The Economic Region of Central Franconia
Martin Heidenreich, Vedrana Miljak (June 2004)
Introductory remark: This is the first draft of a case study written in context and according to
the guidelines of the EU-financed Eurocap project (www.uni-bamberg.de/sowi/europastudien
/eurocap.htm). This report focuses on Central Franconia. The second German case is the
Leipzig region; therefore, many tables and figures refer to these two regions.
Table of contents
1.
Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 2
2.
Regional capabilities: The theoretical approach ................................................................ 4
3.
The boundaries of the „local system“, the „economic identity“, and the „local social
identity“...................................................................................................................................... 5
4.
5.
6.
The industrial and economic structure of the region.......................................................... 9
4.1
Facts and Figures........................................................................................................ 9
4.2
The Cluster Approach .............................................................................................. 15
4.2.1
Medical Technology......................................................................................... 18
4.2.2
Communications and Multimedia .................................................................... 19
4.2.3
Energy and Environmental Technology........................................................... 21
4.2.4
Transport and Logistics.................................................................................... 22
4.2.5
New Materials .................................................................................................. 24
The institutional structure and the local system of “governance”.................................... 25
5.1
Industrial relations.................................................................................................... 25
5.2
Public welfare........................................................................................................... 29
5.3
R&D and technology transfer .................................................................................. 32
5.4
Education, qualifications, skills ............................................................................... 41
5.5
New markets............................................................................................................. 45
Conclusion....................................................................................................................... 49
References ................................................................................................................................ 54
2
1.
Introduction
Central Franconia is, after the region of Munich (Oberbayern), the most prosperous Bavarian
region and one of the ten strongest technology regions in Germany. This region, traditionally
shaped by the electrical and mechanical engineering industry, is presently confronted with the
challenge of transforming itself into a knowledge-based region. It is situated around the cities
of Nuremberg, Erlangen and Fürth and has been relatively successful in facing this challenge;
on the long road to an essential knot in international production, exchange and service
networks essential steps were taken in the past years: The region was able to develop new
scientific, technical, and economic competences in four different fields (transportation
engineering and logistics, information and communication technology, medical technology
and pharmaceuticals and electrical power engineering) as well as took the initial steps in the
field of new materials. This was possible because, firstly numerous research and development
capacities were set up in the above-named areas. Secondly the existing technical and
organisational competences were updated in inter-company networks. Thirdly productionrelated services were developed as well as, fourthly new economic activities (for example in
the area of consultancy and market research companies and in finance and IT service
industries). This went alongside a renewal of former industrial strengths: Over the last ten
years numerous traditional central Franconian firms have had to cut staff or even close down.
Since the period 1992-1997, when a lot more jobs were lost than created and Nuremberg was
even designated a crisis region (Dörre 1999), the number of employees obliged to pay social
insurance contributions has considerably increased (even if numerous new firms had to
downsize their staff during the last two years).
This far-reaching structural change went alongside a path-dependent development of
new regional capabilities as discussed. Nonetheless these numbers show that the economic
strength of the central Franconian economy is based on the complementary strengths of a
competitive industrial sector and advanced services. The transformation of industrial
enterprises to innovative, internationally organised firms increases the demand for
production-related services.
In the following, first, the concept of regional capabilities will be introduced (2), then
the historical, politico-administrative, and social construction of the central Franconian region
will be explained (3), subsequently we will describe the renewal of the economic capabilities
of the region (4) and we will then analyse the institutional conditions for the successful
renewal of this traditional industrial region (5). We rely both upon generally-accessible
3
publications and statistics and on 16 interviews conducted from January to March 2004 with
representatives from regional companies, trade unions, business associations, the regional
Chamber of Commerce and Industry and different regional networks of competence designed
to develop specific fields of activity. Nevertheless, important questions regarding the process,
by which the Nuremberg region will be newly „fabricated“, cannot be fully answered yet. In
conclusion, a summary of the findings will be given (6).
4
2.
Regional capabilities: The theoretical approach
An economic region can be analysed as a societal field which is shaped by the regional
companies, regional institutions and identities and individual actors.1 The capabilities of a
region are anchored in its organizational capabilities (in its companies, its industrial structure
and its patterns of specialisation) and in its institutional structure.2 These structures are the
„memory“ of a region, the result of path-dependent experiences of cooperation and conflict.
These institutional structures have been described by Salais/Storper (1997) as regional orders,
as conventions, as taken-for-granted mutually coherent expectations, routines, and practices“.
The institutions (or governance structures, conventions or regional orders) are produced or reproduced in an open, but path-dependent way a) by the transaction-cost-minimising network
strategies of enterprises, b) by regional public authorities (especially in federal states) and c)
by non-governmental actors (for example trade unions, professional and business
associations, NGOs or sometimes even individual actors).3 The regional governance
structures are crucial for the innovative potential of regions and regional firms, because they
are regulating the organizational patterns of work, management and innovation, and are
shaping the interorganizational patterns of cooperation and competition and because they are
regulating the relationships between businesses, science, technology, education and politics.
In the following, we will analyse the impact of companies, public authorities and
associations on the governance structure of the region of Central Franconia. It can be assumed
that these structures will have a major impact on the competitive strength of this region.
1
2
3
„In their most generic guise, such fields are composed of (1) organizations seeking to structure their
environments, (2) preexisting rules (i.e. existing institutions) that operate to constrain and enable actors
in the arena, and (3) skilled strategic actors who work within organizations to help attain cooperation
among disparate groups and interests“. Fligstein/Stone Sweet 2002: 1211.
This refers to the concepts of regional innovation systems which have been defined ad follows:
„Regional innovation system denotes regional clusters surrounded by `supporting` organisations.
Basically, a regional innovation system consists of two main types of actors and the interaction between
them (...). The first actors are the firms in the main industrial cluster in a region including their support
industries. Secondly an institutional infrastructure must be present, i.e. research and higher education
institutes, technology transfer agencies, vocational training organisations, business associations, finance
institutions etc., which hold important competence to support regional innovation.“ (Asheim/Isaksen
2002:83) In contrast to the cluster concept – which has been defined as „geographically proximate firms
in vertical and horizontal relationships involving a localised enterprise support infrastructure with a
shared developmental vision for business growth, based on competition and cooperation in a specific
market field“ (Cooke 2002:121) – the relative importance of supporting institutional structures is
estimated to be higher.
In an ideal-typical way, Cooke (1998) has opposed these different forms of coordination as grassroots,
network and dirigiste structures of governance (Cooke 1998).
5
3.
The boundaries of the „local system“, the „economic identity“, and
the „local social identity“
Central Franconia is one of the seven Bavarian administrative districts (cf. figure 1).
1,693,650 people live in the region (2002), 13.8% of the Bavarian and 2.1% of the German
Figure 1: Central Franconia. One of
seven Bavarian administrative regions
population. In 2000 those in employment
numbered 879,000, of which 643,949 made social
insurance
contributions.
There
were
7.7%
unemployed (June 2003) – a figure clearly above
the Bavarian average (6.4%) and below West and
overall German levels (8.1% & 10.2%). The real
net output per capita in the year 2000 amounted
to 126.3% of the European average (EU15), thus
being above the Bavarian (124.3%), German
(106.4%) and Leipzig (75%) averages, but below
the upper Bavarian average (154.4%). Central
Franconia comprises two different planning
regions: One is the rural area “West Central
Franconia”, the other the “industrial region of
Central Franconia”. The second region is the economic centre of Central Franconia: In this
region, which occupies 40% of the surface of Central Franconia, 81% of the Central
Franconian employees produce 82% of its economic output4. In the centre of the industrial
region of Central Franconia are the four neighbouring towns of Nuremberg (491,991
inhabitants in the year 2002), Fürth (111,293), Erlangen (109,906) and Schwabach (38,535).
To a large extent the identity of the region is defined by the city of Nuremberg,
mentioned in a document for the first time in 1050. In 1219 Nuremberg became a free
imperial city; since then its history has been closely bound to the Holy Roman Empire of the
German Nation. In 1356 it was laid down that newly-elected emperors would have to
celebrate their first imperial assembly (“Reichstag”) in Nuremberg. Since 1424 the imperial
Crown Jewels have been kept in the city; Nuremberg was termed „The Treasury of the
German Reich“. The self-administration of taxes and freedom from customs duty in the free
4
Sources: European Commission, 2003: Second progress report on economic and social cohesion.
Brussels, COM (2003) 34/4; IHK Nuremberg for Central Franconia, 2003: Economy in Central
Franconia. Report 2002/03. Nuremberg (www.ihk-nuernberg.de/Beratung/Kommunikation/
Jahresberichte/Jahresberichte.jsp)
6
city led to extra- ordinary economic prosperity during the 13th and 14th centuries. Nuremberg
was able to profit from the revival of foreign trade at the end of the Middle Ages, as it lay on
the foreign trade route between north Europe and upper Italy and between west and central
Europe (Bohemia, Poland). Foreign trade and handicrafts prospered. Around 1500, in the age
of renaissance and humanism, the city reached its cultural and economic peak; it became a
European centre for handicrafts, art and culture. The denominational split in Germany during
the course of the Reformation (which prevailed in Nuremberg in 1525), the 30-years war
(1618-1648) and the alteration of trading routes associated with it led to the economic and
cultural decline of the city. In 1806 Nuremberg was attached to the Kingdom of Bavaria.
During the industrial revolution of the 19th century, Nuremberg was able to rekindle its old
Figure 2: European metropolitain region in Germany
commercial
and
artisan
Source: Blotevogel (2002: 344).
tradition once more; a visible
sign of this was the first
German railway, which ran
from Nuremberg to Fürth in
1835. The development of the
machinery
and
electronics
industries, the traditional toy
and pencil production, and the
bicycle and motor industries
brought about an economic
upswing. In 1933 the darkest
chapter in the history of the
city began: Nuremberg became
the city of the Reich party
congress. In the Second World
War 90% of the old city was
destroyed.
However, the question
concerning the existence of a regional identity cannot be answered satisfactorily by reference
to a 600-year old tradition as an imperial city. Franconia itself was never a political entity, but
comprised a large number of autonomous territories (imperial cities, bishoprics and
margravates). From 1555 to 1806 these were loosely connected within the framework of the
Franconian Imperial Region (“Reichskreis”) (capital: Nuremberg). This polycentric political
7
structure is still conserved by the multiplicity of residential towns (alongside Nuremberg for
example Erlangen, Bamberg, Würzburg, Ansbach and Bayreuth). Nuremberg has always
rather been a focal knot in a supraregional communications, transport and trade network than
the capital of a compact, relatively closed territory, like it is the case with Munich.
Even today, this is still the case: The Nuremberg metropolitan region is an important
industrial and commercial knot in national and supra-national networks. With the enlargement
of the European Union, Nuremberg may become once again a „gateway“ between east,
central and western Europe (Frommer 2003: 7 and Figure 2).
If a region is defined as „a territorially demarcated area below the level of a state,
which exhibits a `certain independent organisation´ and serves as an object of identification
for its inhabitants“ (Frommer/Bomba 2003:12), then first and foremost the question of the
political organisation of the central Franconian area must be answered. In this respect
attention should be drawn to the existence of an administrative district (“Regierungsbezirk”)
of Central Franconia and a district Central Franconia (“Bezirk”). In Germany, administrative
districts are the middle state administrative level between a federal state and a rural district or
towns which on their own constitute an administrative unit. At the same time, in Central
Franconia there exists a territorially identical district. A district is the third level of communal
self-administration (above local authorities and rural districts/towns). Further institutions and
organisations likewise cover the central Franconian region or large parts of it – for example
the Nuremberg Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the chamber of crafts, the regional
savings bank organisation, the regional natural gas and power supplier, the public transport
system and the marketing association „The Nuremberg Region“. These institutions and
businesses also partly cover other areas – particularly the upper Franconian rural district of
Forchheim, which is closely linked to Nuremberg/Erlangen.
A further organisation central to the identity of the region is the Friedrich-AlexanderUniversity of Nuremberg-Erlangen. Approximately 80% of its 22,000 students heritage from
the Franconian area. The university plays a central role for the region – both as a hidden local
“technical university“and by providing medical support to the region and cooperation with the
local economy, where medical technology plays an outstanding part. 54% of the
approximately 12,000 employees of the university work in the medical faculty and in clinics.
From an economic, political, and social point of view Central Franconia can therefore
certainly be regarded as a relatively clearly demarcated economic region with an own identity
– even if the cities of Nuremberg, Erlangen and Fürth are located in the centre of the region
and different forms of agglomeration can be distinguished within Central Franconia. Frommer
8
(2003) proposes to distinguish four distinct „Nuremberg regions“ according to different
agglomeration intensities (cf. Figure 3 within Central Franconia the first level comprises): the
four towns of Nuremberg, Erlangen, Fürth and Schwabach, whose local governments are
closely cooperating. Further regions are, the four towns and their surrounding communities,
the planning region „Central Franconian Industrial Region“, and finally the administrative
district of Central Franconia – extended by neighbouring districts and towns such as
Forchheim, Neumarkt, Amberg, Amberg-Sulzbach.
Figure 3:
Nuremberg in its regional context
Source: Frommer (2003: 1).
9
4.
The industrial and economic structure of the region
4.1
Facts and Figures
Until the 1960s, Bavaria was still a largely agrarian state, whilst its capital Munich was rather
a centre of the courtly and cultural life than an industrial site. This does not apply to Central
Franconia. With reference to trading traditions of the Middle Ages, an efficient metal and
electrical industry had already been developed in the region during the 19th century. Today the
economy of Central Franconia is still largely dominated by the industrial sector: With 150
employees in manufacturing occupations per 1,000 inhabitants, industry in Central Franconia
is clearly stronger than in Bavaria (143) and Western Germany (123), whilst the number of
those employed in the service sector - 149 – is considerably below the Bavarian (215) and
west German (214) level (Figures for 2001; Source : Bavarian State Ministry for Economy,
Trade and Technology, 2003).
Up to the beginning of the 1990s the economic output per employee was above the
Bavarian average (cf. Figure 4). In the middle of the 90s it fell below this level, only to reach
the Bavarian level again in 2000.
Figure 4:
Gross domestic product in Central Franconia and Leipzig (1000 EUR per
employee; 1992 to 2000; at current prices)
60
50
Bavaria
Central Franc.
40
Germany
Saxony
Leipzig
30
20
1992 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000
Source: Federal Statistical Office, 2002: Data base „Statistik regional“.
When it comes to employees and output, the most important branches in Central Franconia
are the electrical and electronics industry, mechanical engineering and the automobile
10
industry. Electrical and mechanical engineering carry far more weight in Central Franconia
than they do in Germany as a whole. The medical technology industry based in Erlangen and
the automotive industry are also important employment areas, whilst the once significant
entertainment electronics sector will continue to lose importance following the bankruptcy of
Grundig in 2003 (1979: 38,000 employees) (cf. Table 1).
11
Table 1:
Employment weight of different industries (in absolute numbers and in % of
industrial employment; 1995, 2002)
Economic Branch; Firms
Cent. Franconia Central Franconia (2002)
with 20+ employees
1995
Appliances used in generation
38,875
33,535
18.7%
& supply etc. of electricity
Thereof electricity supply and
20,681
11.6%
switching installations
machinery and equipment
34,051
30,187
16.9%
transport equipment
7,199
12,208
6.8%
food products; beverages and
11,251
11,923
6.7%
tobacco
Furniture, jewellery, musical
13,741
11,432
6.4%
instruments, sports appliances
Toys
2,921
1.6%
Metal products
12,513
10,757
6.0%
Medical, precision instrument,
13,658
10,569
5.9%
tax and automatic control
technology, optics
Thereof medical appliances &
5,645
3.2%
orthopaedic equipment
Optical & photographic
1,044
0.6%
appliances
Rubber & plastic goods
11,361
10,511
5.9%
Radio, television and
12,601
8,032
4.5%
information technology
publishing and printing
9,947
7,993
4.5%
Metal production & treatment
8,133
7,087
4.0%
Chemical industry
6,179
7,081
4.0%
6,932
5,251
2.9%
Glass industry, ceramics,
processing of stones & earth
Leather industry
2,307
3,100
1.7%
Paper industry
3,171
2,827
1.6%
Other motor construction
4,133
2,241
1.3%
Timber industry (excl.
2,500
1,700
1.0%
furniture)
Textile industry
2,009
1,092
0.6%
Clothing industry
1,507
632
0.4%
Mining & stone and earth
481
513
0.3%
extraction
Industry (total)
203,152
178,920
100.0%
Bavaria (2002)
Germany (2002)
106,846
9.0%
424,941
6.8%
55,779
4.7%
196,597
3.2%
195,057
175,567
93,398
16.4%
14.8%
7.9%
970,804
790,224
530,832
15.6%
12.7%
8.5%
46,694
3.9%
205,273
3.3%
5,549
73,022
47,175
0.5%
6.2%
4.0%
13,146
578,331
232,802
0.2%
9.3%
3.7%
15,812
1.3%
84,235
1.4%
30,230
0.5%
66,469
53,246
5.6%
4.5%
350,530
170,962
5.6%
2.8%
52,195
24,151
60,709
55,470
4.4%
2.0%
5.1%
4.7%
259,995
261,807
461,713
220,760
4.2%
4.2%
7.4%
3.6%
6,640
21,210
31,490
17,086
0.6%
1.8%
2.7%
1.4%
23,503
142,255
148,071
96,335
0.4%
2.3%
2.4%
1.6%
21,043
16,923
7,087
1.8%
1.4%
0.6%
110,332
53,901
100,051
1.8%
0.9%
1.6%
1,186,283
100.0%
6,208,685
100.0%
Source: IHK (2003) and Federal Statistical Office, 2002: Data base „Statistik regional“.
Table 2:
Employees classified according to size of firms in the manufacturing
industries, in mining and quarrying (2000)
Size of firm
Germany
Bavaria
under 50 employees
10.7%
0.9%
50 - 99 employees
11.7%
9.8%
100 - 199 employees
14.1%
12.7%
200 - 499 employees
21.0%
19.9%
500 - 999 employees
13.6%
14.8%
1000 or more employees
28.9%
34.1%
Total (100 %)
6,431,966
1,222,331
Source: Federal Statistical Office, 2002: Data base „Statistik regional“.
Central
Franconia
8.7%
9.2%
10.8%
18.3%
16.2%
36.9%
185,639
Saxony
Leipzig
19.9%
19.6%
21.5%
21.0%
10.1%
8.0%
222,357
22.1%
20.4%
24.9%
22.8%
9.9%
0.0%
38,984
12
In respect to the enterprise size, the central Franconian industry is dominated by larger
enterprises. More than a third of the regional labour force is employed in enterprises with
more that 1,000 employees – much more than in Bavaria or Germany (cf. Tables 2 & 3).
Table 3: The largest employers in Central Franconia (2003)
Name of Firm
1.
2.
3.
4.
SIEMENS
KarstadtQuelle
INA Schaeffler
Sparkassen-Bezirksverband Mittelfranken
5. Deutsche Bahn
6. Deutsche Post
7. Robert Bosch
8. Datev
9. Nürnberger Versicherungsgruppe
10. Deutsche Telekom
11. AEG Hausgeräte
12. Genossenschaftsbanken in Mittelfranken
13. MAN Nutzfahrzeuge
14. Diehl Stiftung und Co.
15. N-ERGIE Aktiengesellschaft
16. Bayerische Hypo- und Vereinsbank
17. adidas-Salomon
18. Schwan-Stabilo
19. Verkehrsaktiengesellschaft Nürnberg
20. Framatome
21. Verlag Nürnberger Presse GmbH &
Co.
22. GRUNDIG AG
23. Lucent Technologies Network
Systems
24. maul + co – Chr. Belser
25. Staedler Mars GmbH & Co. KG
Source: IHK (2003).
Headquarters
Employees in Employees Employees
C. Franconia Germany worldwide
Berlin / Munich
32,600
171,000
417,000
Essen / Fürth
12,000
110,000
120,000
Herzogenaurach
8,800
28,000
54,000
Central Franconia
7,570
282,000
282,000
Berlin
Bonn
Stuttgart
Nuremberg
Nuremberg
Bonn
Nuremberg
Central Franconia
6,500
5,000
4,800
4,704
4,355
4,000
3,839
3,416
230,000
240,000
103,000
5,410
32,436
177,823
4,581
167,200
265,000
320,000
226,000
5,410
34,622
255,969
4,581
167,200
München
Nuremberg
Nuremberg
Munich
Herzogenaurach
Heroldsberg
Nuremberg
Paris
Nuremberg
3,278
3,250
2,863
2,660
2,080
2,045
2,028
1,620
1,540
25,719
8,800
2,863
31,361
2,150
2,061
2,028
3,000
1,550
38,706
10,600
2,863
65,526
13,160
2,877
2,028
14,000
1,550
Nuremberg
Murray Hill, USA
1,500
1,400
1,371
1,600
4,070
33,000
Nuremberg
Nuremberg
1,340
1,300
1,340
1,600
1,340
3,100
The largest firms in the region are listed in Table 3. Alongside Siemens (13% of the regional
industrial employment), a significant number of service firms - for example financial service
providers (Sparkasse, Datev, Nürnberger, Cooperatives, Hypovereinsbank) and distribution
and logistics enterprises (Quelle, Bahn, Post) are situated in the region. This list shows to
what extent the regional economy depends on the decisions of external multinational
companies.
Since the 1970s the region of Central Franconia has undergone a rapid deindustrialisation and tertiarisation process. The number of industrial employees paying social
security contributions has fallen in the last decades from 352,695 (1974) to 250,122 (2002).
13
Meanwhile, the number of employees in the service industry sector has risen from 221,136 to
393,392. Therefore, the percentage of industrial workers has fallen from 61% to 38.6%, whilst
the percentage of the service sector employment has risen from 38.3% to 60.7% (cf. Figure
5). Over 170,000 new jobs have been created in the service sector, whilst over 100,000 jobs
have been lost in industry (amongst these in such well-known firms as Grundig, Triumph
Adler, AEG, Adtranz, Cebal, ABB/ALSTROM).
700.000
600.000
500.000
400.000
300.000
200.000
Services
Industry
100.000
Agriculture
2
20
0
9
19
9
7
19
9
5
19
9
3
19
9
1
19
9
9
19
8
7
19
8
5
19
8
3
19
8
1
19
8
8
19
7
4
0
19
7
Employed persons subject to social security
Figure 5: Employed persons subject to social security (Central Franconia; 1974-2002)
Overall, Central Franconia has accomplished the transformation from an industrial region to a
knowledge-based region mainly on two different paths: On the one hand, the service sector –
especially production-related services – have been expanded, on the other hand, the
innovativeness and competitiveness of industrial firms in the region has been considerably
strengthened.
The strong position of the central Franconian economy in business services is
documented in tables 4 & 5. The employment share of business-related services is higher in
Central Franconia than in Bavaria and Germany. This is true in relation to the total labour
force (cf. Table 4) as well as to the employees obliged to pay social security contributions (cf.
Table 5). In Central Franconia there are approximately 30,000 employed in consultancy,
advertising and market research firms, 30,000 in financial services, 15,000 in IT and
telecommunications firms and 10,000 in engineering offices and advisory bureaux (Source:
www.ihk-nuernberg.de). Further, Call centres are an important field of employment. To
enforce this, the Bavarian Ministry of Economic Affairs, Infrastructure, Transport and
14
Technology founded the “Communication Centre Academy” based in Nuremberg and with
training posts all over Bavaria. A lot of money was invested in this sector over the years and
Bavaria as a whole and Nuremberg in special developed into a highly competent call centre
location. Many companies like Siemens, Quelle, DATEV, Allianz, AEG, Profectis,
Elektrolux, defacto teleservices, etc. have call centres in Nuremberg and its environs, so that
approximately 10,000 people are employed in about 50 call centres in the region. (Source:
Stadt Nürnberg) It was clear from the beginning that this sector would not last longer than ten
years (Interview 4: 6) and it seems like the rapid growth of the sector has come to an end.
Now the apprehension of the city is that many call centres could be transferred to Eastern
Europe where cost of labour is lower.
Nonetheless, these numbers show that the economic strength of the central Franconian
economy is based on the complementary strengths of a competitive industrial sector and
advanced services. The transformation of industrial enterprises to innovative, internationally
organised firms increases the demand for production-related services.
Table 4: Employees in different branches of the economy (2000)
Agriculture, forestry and fisheries
Production industries
- Manufacturing industry
Service industries
• Wholesale and retail, hotel and
restaurants and transport
•
Germany
Bavaria
2.5%
29.2%
20.9%
68.4%
25.4%
3.7%
31.6%
24.4%
64.7%
24.9%
14.8%
14.4%
Financial intermediation (J) Real
estate and business activities
28.2 %
25.4%
• Public and private services
Total number of employees
38.706,0
6.240,50
(in 1000; = 100%)
Source: Federal Statistical Office, 2002: Data base „Statistik regional“.
Central
Franconia
2.8%
31.3%
25.3%
65.9%
25.0%
Saxony
Leipzig
2.8%
31.1%
16.5%
66.2%
23.3%
2.3%
26.2%
11.6%
71.5%
24.0%
16.8%
13.7%
17.2%
24.0%
879
29.2%
1970
30.4%
492
15
Table 5: Employed persons subject to social security at place of work (6/2000)
Federal
Bavaria
Republic of
Germany
Administra- Saxony
tive District
of
Central
Franconia
0.7%
2.6%
0.3%
0.0%
31.7%
18.4%
1.6%
1.3%
6.1%
12.9%
15.5%
13.2%
2.4%
0.3%
5.1%
5.9%
0.4%
2.5%
11.9%
10.1%
4.8%
7.7%
Agriculture, forestry & fisheries (A, B) 0.1%
0.8%
Mining (C)
0.5%
0.3%
Manufacturing (D)
26.1%
31.5%
Energy and water supply (E)
1.0%
0.9%
Building trades (F)
8.0%
7.5%
Wholesale and retail (G)
15.2%
15.3%
Hotels and restaurants (H)
2.8%
3.2%
Transport and communications (I)
5.4%
4.5%
Financial intermediation (J)
3.8%
4.3%
Real estate and business activities (K) 10.6%
9.8%
Public
administration,
defence,6.4%
5.1%
extraterritorial organisations and bodies
(L, Q)
Education, health and social work,18.7%
16.6%
15.7%
community, social and personal services
(M, N, O, P)
Total (inc. no answers; corresponds to27,825,624 4,36,.659
643,949
100%)
Source: Federal Statistical Office, 2002: Data base „Statistik regional“.
4.2
Leipzig, Administrative
District
2.1%
0.4%
13.1%
1.6%
13.8%
13.9%
0.3%
0.7%
3.5%
12.5%
7.3%
22.2%
22.5%
1,526,531
382,723
The Cluster Approach
In a spatial dimension, the complementarities of industry and services are a major reason for
the development of regional clusters: “A cluster is a geographical concentration of businesses
and institutions connected to each other within a certain branch of the economy. It includes a
number of networked branches and other organisational units relevant to competition. These
include, for example, the distributors of special materials such as components, machinery and
services as well as suppliers of specialised infrastructure“ (Porter 1999; translated from the
German). A crucial feature of the regional economic policy of Central Franconia is the
reinforcement of the regional capabilities by cluster policies (cf. Boekholt/Thuriaux 1999).
However, the cluster policies in Central Franconia were not developed before the mid
90s, when the region was facing a major structural crisis. Old and established industrial
companies like Grundig, Adtranz, AEG etc. had to downsize massively or even close plants
due to either the rise of productivity or due to the overall change in production industry
worldwide.
As early as 1993 the IG Metall made the suggestion to develop competence fields in
environment, energy and transportation. This was not supported by other regional actors
though. At that time the CCI promoted the aspect of liberalism and hands off politics. This
16
only changed when the chamber changed its management and started to realise that structural
policy in the region can be an advantage. However, it was not until the late 90s when Central
Franconia was in a severe structural crisis, that the regional actors joined forces and
developed a regional development guideline (or vision) as well as accompanying initiatives.
This measure to support and develop the different branches of the regional industry
was finally designed in 1998, after the trade unions had tried to establish a joint regional
collaboration for years. The Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI) worked in close
cooperation with the unions, the city governments, the rural districts and the Chamber of
Handicraft. The capabilities of the region were identified in five different fields: (1)
Medicine-pharmaceutics-health, (2) energy and environment, (3) transport and logistics, (4)
communications and multimedia and (5) new materials. There were two conditions the five
competences had to fulfil (Interview 12: 4). Firstly they had to be of above-average
importance for the region. Secondly they had to be in a seminal and future oriented industrial
field.
In 2000 the Bavarian Land government started its High-Tech-Offensive which used
DM 8.25 billion from privatisation revenues to give the economy lasting investments and
innovations and to improve the competitiveness of the Bavarian economy. The money was
invested in projects furthering the research, technology and education of a region as well as
for start-up initiatives, and measures to open up new markets (Source: Bayerisches
Staatsministerium für Wirtschaft , Verkehr und Technologie). In order to get funding the
regional actors had to produce appropriate projects. Within the five different areas of
competence altogether 70 projects where were funded with DM 750 million. from the
Bavarian-High-Tech-Offensive.
The guideline and the funding that went with it had the goal to form a strategic overall
concept to turn the economic region of Nuremberg into an international top region and to
secure added value, income and jobs in the region (Source: IHK Entwicklungsleitbild).
During the development of the guideline, the important companies situated in the
region were asked for their input and their know-how was taken into account as the five
clusters were phrased. However, they were not actively involved in the decision-making
process. Although the CCI wanted to involve all relevant regional actors in the design of the
guideline, with leaving out the companies (and the scientific institutions), they did not fully
include a number of crucial regional factors. Earlier attempts to develop fields of competence
17
failed exactly due to the reason that not all the relevant actors were included in the project5.
This time though, although the companies and scientific institutions did not take part in the
decision-making process, all of the other regional players were included. The positive aspect
of this is that after the capabilities were agreed upon none of these public institutions were
making attempts to block the guideline and the measures connected to it. In addition, as we
will see further on in the text, the companies and the scientific institutions are at least not
completely opposed to the idea of regional competences and networks, since many of them
are members of appropriate initiatives and support them.
On the basis of the development guideline the agreed capabilities were to be promoted
through so called networks of competence. It is their task to provide an institutional platform
for companies (and scientific institutions) to interact with each other. They are destined to
help develop networks within a competence, establish contacts between different companies
or between companies and scientific institutions, to generate pilot schemes, and altogether to
enable the competence field to thrive and grow. (cf. also www.kompetenznetze.de).
Before analysing these clusters in detail, one fact has to be mentioned which is
important for all the regional clusters. The region and its profile as an innovative
technological region cannot be analysed without taking into account the different divisions of
Siemens (cf. Table 3). With around 33,000 employees (2003) Siemens is by far the most
important employer in the region (22,000 work in Erlangen, 9,000 in Nuremberg and 2,500 in
Fürth). According to a Siemens spokesman, further 100,000 employees depend directly or
indirectly (supplier relations, services etc.) on the company. Five of the 13 divisions of the
company are controlled from Erlangen: Industrial Solution and Services (I&S), Medical
Solutions (Med), Power Generation (PG), Power Transmission and Distribution (PTD) and
Transportation Systems (TS). Two other divisions are controlled from Nuremberg:
Automation and Drives (A&D) and Siemens Dematic (SD). Beside the seven division
headquarters, additionally there are five plants in the region employing about 8,000 to 9,000
people (Interview 16). Therefore, the regional cluster structure in Central Franconia cannot be
analysed without taking into account the central role of Siemens. This of course does not
mean that Siemens is the focal enterprise in all clusters: In the area of medical and energy
technology the importance of Siemens is clearly much greater than in environmental
technology. And although Siemens is among the largest employers in the region, it is
5
The ZATU e.V. (Zentrum Arbeit Technik Umwelt) initiated by the IG Metall did not have the desired
success, since it was only the trade union involved in the design and the implementation of the concept.
18
important not to underestimate the importance of the very well developed structure of small
and medium sized enterprises in most of the five different competence fields.
In the following sections the five clusters are going to be portrayed, their future
development chances and the challenges the regional actors are facing are going to be
examined.
4.2.1
Medical Technology
The competences of the first-named cluster, i.e. in Medical Technology, are concentrated in
the Erlangen area. The central actors are the Medical Faculty, the 21 university hospitals, the
Siemens Medical Solutions division and approximately 700 small and medium sized
businesses in the medical and pharmaceutical area. It is estimated that approximately 70,000
people work in that field. For Central Franconia as a total this means that about 10% of the
employees who are subject to social security are employed in the medical sector. In Erlangen
this number is with over 20% even higher.
The competence in this field already commenced in the 19th century when the
company Reiniger, Gebbert & Schall was founded. It soon became a leading producer of xray machinery and equipment. When Siemens (then still called Siemens & Halske) bought the
company in the mid 1920’s, the field continued to develop covering the whole range of
electro medical fabrication (Source: Feldenkirchen, 2003, p.230 et seqq.). With the Medical
Faculty of the Friedrich-Alexander-University already being a very important research and
teaching centre and the growing importance of the electrometrical division of Siemens, a
number of smaller companies developed in the field over the past century.
Today, Medical Technology is without question one of the most important competence
fields in the region. In order to further and promote this field a network of competence was
established in 1997 (Kompetenz-Initiative-Medizin-Pharma-Gesundheit e.V.) Meanwhile
there are approximately 100 active members, of which half are company representatives and
half are representatives of the cities, the chambers, and the scientific institutions. The main
task of the initiative is to establish a well functioning network between the companies
themselves as well as between the companies and the different kinds of regional institutions.
This is done (as in the network initiatives of the other fields as well) through member
meetings or series of lectures about specific topics. According to the managerial head of the
initiative, especially the smaller companies often do not see the necessity for cooperation.
Usually it is not until they are facing a major economic crisis that they realise its importance
19
(Interview 2: 7). Nevertheless, especially in the medical field cooperation between the
companies and the scientific institutions is comparatively intense. In a few cases, firms are
even spin off’s of one of the Fraunhofer Institutes, the Universities, or Siemens. This usually
results in intense connections with these institutions.
Since 1996 the city of Erlangen is focussing on the task to establish Erlangen as a
“Medical Valley”. One of the prestige projects of the city and the Bavarian government is the
Innovation Centre for Medicine and Pharmaceutics (IZMP), which functions as an incubator
for companies in the medical sector, as well as accommodating the University Institute for
Medical Engineering. In context of the High Tech Offensive the Land government invested
11 million Euro in the Centre which was built on former Siemens premise. Additionally,
many start-ups emerged due to the activities of the Land government and the city. In some of
these cases they have become very successful, such as the prominent example of
HumanOptics, winner of the Businessplan Competition in 1999, and WaveLight-LaserTechnologie, which was awarded the Bavarian Innovation Prize in 2000 and which won the
German Startup Competition in 2002.
Medical technology seems to be one of the strongest and most seminal competences of
the region. It holds many jobs, the quality of the research facilities is globally acknowledged
and it is a thriving industry sector with many innovative start-up companies. The only danger
in this field is its dependence on the goodwill of one company – namely Siemens Medical
Solutions. If Siemens Medical Solutions should ever decide to leave the scene (right now it
does not look like it), it is questionable how much longer Erlangen could call itself “Medical
Valley”. Most of the smaller companies depend in one way or the other on Siemens, making
them vulnerable to its location decisions.
4.2.2
Communications and Multimedia
In the field of Communications and Multimedia both, the IT-sector (hardware, terminals and
distribution), as well as the print sector (printing and publishing) have each about 20,000
employees. Advertising/Journalism/Market Research (16,000), Audio vision/Multimedia
(11,000), the Data-/IT-Services and Consulting (15,000) as well as the software branch
(5,000) are also part of this cluster. Altogether around 87,000 people work in that cluster and
it employs the most wage earners in the region. The Nuremberg region belongs to the eight
most important Information and Communication locations in Europe (Source: Financial
Times Deutschland, 17.07.2001), and represents in Bavaria a “good number two after
20
Munich” (Interview 7: 1) It has a long engineering history, going back to industrialisation and
continuing with companies like AEG, Grundig, Siemens etc.. Even today Nuremberg has the
highest density of engineers in Germany (Source: CCI). Network, network access, and digital
transmission technology are an important regional field of competence due to renowned
research institutes such as the Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits, the Fraunhofer
Institute, Heinrich-Hertz-Institute for Communications Engineering, the corresponding
departments of the Erlangen-Nuremberg University, the Max-Planck-Research Group for
Optics, Information and Photonics, which is part of the University and the specialised
institutes of the University of Applied Sciences “Georg-Simon-Ohm” in Nuremberg. The
scientific know-how is complemented by the development and production capacities of
internationally-active companies such as Lucent Technologies or Siemens. In addition,
countless specialists for the development of new transmission links are working in the region.
This value-added chain is completed by end-users as for example DATEV, Quelle, or the
Consumer Research Society (GfK). (Source: www.wirtschaft.nuernberg.de/ ver2003/high
tech standort/info komm; accessed 2/11/2003).
Some of the most prestigious products and projects are for example the development
of the mp3 standard by the Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits, optical transmission
techniques, or UMTS Networks and Applications developed by both Lucent and the
Fraunhofer Institute. Additionally, there is work done in the field of E-government and
security solutions for computers. It is also important to mention that the region has a vast
number of open source specialists. Furthermore, one of the biggest Linux companies, SuSE, is
based in Nuremberg.
Also in this field a network of competence has been established, the “Nuremberg
Initiative for the Communication Industry” (NIK) in 1994, well before the global IT-hype and
the regional development guideline. The goal of the initiative was to position the region
nationally and internationally in this field as well as to work out government supported
projects for the region. Additionally, the interlinking of the companies and scientific
institutions has always been a goal of the network. Today, the initiative has 87 members and
sees itself as an industry sector association. Networking is done by arranging lectures and
discussions concerning special topics (like digital signature, mobile technology, EGovernment etc.) or member meetings. The development of the initiative has undergone a
specialization. It started out to be a general Communication and Multimedia platform, but
positioned itself according to the regional industry structure including Linux, mobile
technology, E-Government, Laser technology etc.
21
In sum, the Communications and Multimedia cluster is a very important field in this
region, even if not as obviously and internationally acknowledged as Medical Technology, it
nevertheless employs the highest share of people in the area and some important companies
like Lucent, SuSE or Siemens are situated here. Especially in this sector innovative start-up
companies are very important, since they are an engine for further development.
However, similar to other fields, the sector needs to stay competitive compared to
other locations. It is likely that, for example, software services or production can be
transferred to low cost countries like India or China. Siemens has already announced a
movement in this direction. It is not unlikely that other companies will similarly reconsider
their location decisions. Therefore, the regional institutions will have to consider their
regional strengths and capabilities in order to position themselves in the global market and
keep investments in the area.
4.2.3
Energy and Environmental Technology
Approximately 50,000 people in around 500 companies are employed in the Energy sector.
Power electronics alone has 300 companies, which is 37% of the Bavarian branch share.
Altogether 33,500 are employed in the production of equipment for the generation and
distribution of electricity and 15,000 in the turbine and power station construction and the
corresponding services. The sector generates around one third of the regional turnover, has an
export quota of around 40% and, according to a spokesman of the city council, the supply and
the value chain are relatively deep in this region. In the area of Environmental technology
there are about 700 small and medium sized firms with approximately 18,000 employees. The
companies mainly focus on the waste industry, environmental management, and production
integrated environment protection.
The regional actors did not start to focus on the issue of energy until the end of the
1990s. Only with the privatisation of the big energy companies the sector started to become
interesting. Privatisation as well as the need to adapt to a global competition led to a need to
cut costs and thus in many cases to downsizing of the companies. On this account the trade
unions were naturally very anxious to keep jobs in that industry. As in the context of the
“Employment Pact Bavaria”6, the Land government had an interest to keep the unions
friendly, it was a political decision to further and promote this branch of industry. Although
6
A programme designed by the Land government in cooperation with the trade unions to cut
unemployment drastically.
22
the region employs many people in that field and harbours a few fairly important companies
like Siemens PG (power generation, the former KWU) and Siemens PTD (Power
Transmission and Distribution), Semikron, N-ergie, e.on Bayern or Baumüller, it is not sure
whether this branch will be able to assert itself in the region. Similar to other branches, the
global competition is severe. Additionally, many (especially big) companies follow the
market. Considering that the export volume of the branch is over 40%, the market is clearly
not national. Only to name one example, the Siemens Power Generation division has only a
few customers in Germany (Interview 16).
To face the challenges and help the area to stay competitive the regional actors took a
number of measures. A competence network named “EnergyRegion Nuremberg.” has been
established in 2001 in order to function as a communication and coordination platform for
companies and research facilities, having the same tasks as the other network organisations in
the region. The initiative has 50 members and according to the managerial head of the
initiative it is quite difficult to establish a functioning communication between the individual
companies, indicating that a branch network has not established itself yet. The competence
network is situated in a complex of buildings called the “Energy Technological Centre”
(Energie-Technologisches Zentrum – etz), which is a technically specialised centre for the
settlement of innovative companies and scientific institutions as well as the implementation of
innovative projects in the energy sector. Already a number of start-up companies, scientific
institutions, and networking organisations have moved in. The main task of the centre is to
help its tenants with project promotion, order acquisition, and the expansion of national and
international networks.
In order to stand global competition the focus of the regional promotion is going
towards research and development in the field of renewable decentralised energy (Interview
8). One of the goals of the “EnergieRegion Nuremberg” is the promotion of structural change
in the direction of sustainable economy, climate protection and the protection of resources.
4.2.4
Transport and Logistics
Approximately 75,000 people work in roughly 770 Transport and Logistics companies. This
makes up around 19% of the employees who are subject to social security in the region. Until
a few years ago, the main competence of the regional transport and logistics companies was
railway transportation, but the withdrawal of the largest company Bombardier (former
ADtranz) and other firms as well meant that the cluster had to leave the railway topic. Except
23
for Siemens TS, which still produces in the region because of its highly qualified production
technique (e.g. for the Maglev system “Transrapid” or the driverless metro), focal companies
are missing in that field today.
Since the sub area of railway transportation is not as pronounced as it used to be, the
region has to focus on other competences as well. Some of the most important sub areas are
drive engineering (Siemens AD), logistics (Dachser) and subcontractors to the automotive
industry (Bing Power Systems, Federal-Mogul, MAN etc). The last named sub area is
probably the most important one at the moment, employing the most people in the
transportation industry. „Central Franconia as a traditional centre of electrical engineering and
electronics profits from automobile supply, amongst others, as the amount of electronics in
the added value of cars constantly increases“ (IHK 2003:10). The only drawback here is that
no car production actually takes place in the region. The competences of this field are
interconnected in the Nuremberg based technology transfer agency BAIKA – in which 1450
mainly Bavarian supplier companies are participating.
The other important sub area of the cluster is logistics. In the past years, the fraction of
companies providing logistics services grew steadily to reach 37% of the companies in the
field, employing approximately 40,000 people.
As in the other fields of competence a network of competence was established in 1996
to strengthen the field and to give it a distinct profile. The CNA “Neuer Adler” has 85
members of which 65 are companies and 20 are institutions. Additionally it has over 310
competence partners. The initiative is meant to add to the fortification and further
development of the regionally available competences and innovation skills in the transport
and logistics sector. Similar to other initiatives, it is designed to increase networking. An
outbound marketing is supposed to take place and projects are initiated from this position.
Characteristic to this initiative is the close cooperation with actors outside the region to
compensate for missing regional competences, e.g. in the field of research. Since, according
to the managerial head of the initiative, there is no focal point at the regional universities, the
initiative works together with the networking initiative in Braunschweig, where the research
facilities are more pronounced then in Central Franconia. The initiative engages in projects
concerning intelligent transportation systems, drive engineering, logistics and vehicle
electronics. One of the current projects is, for example, a project for the advancement of
traffic guidance in congested urban areas, which is conducted in cooperation with the DLR
Institute for traffic research in Berlin, Siemens, ADAC, the Nuremberg taxi head office and
other actors.
24
According to the managerial head of the initiative, services (logistics) and processed
production technique have the highest chances to stay competitive. According to a spokesman
of the CCI though, the greatest risk concerning the success of these fields lies in the stronger
competition as a result of the EU enlargement. Even now the local carrier companies have
reallocated their storages on the much cheaper other side of the border.
4.2.5
New Materials
In 2001 a competence centre for New Materials has been opened in Fürth. Whether this
centre will lead to the advancement of regional competences in this field cannot be assessed at
present. This is the only new focal capability, without a long established tradition and large
companies. Right now research activities are done at the Friedrich-Alexander-University, the
Universities of Applied Sciences in Nuremberg and Ansbach, the Fraunhofer task force
“Ultrafeinfocus-Röntgenzentrum” and the New Materials Ltd. in Fürth.
Especially the trade union IG Metall is interested in the promotion of this field, since it
does not only include the development of new materials, but also the processing and
production of these materials. Therefore, the trade union pleads for the renaming of the
competence field into “Materials, Production- and System-Technology (Mechatronics)”, to
make it clear – especially for the companies supposed be active in the network to come –
what kind of activity the field embraces. In sum, however, it is not clear yet how the branch
will develop in the future.
Since the beginning of the 90s cross-linkage between the regional actors has been actively
enforced. The individual municipalities and other regional actors work closely together and
despite some sectoral egoism and some parish-pump politics, the cooperation within the
region is exemplary. The governmental aid has mostly been invested in future orientated
projects or at least in projects saving or creating jobs in the region, so it was possible to
further and develop regional competences. Through this concentration of means it was further
possible to reach a certain distinctiveness of the individual branches (especially medical
technology and Communications/Media). As it could be seen on the previous pages, the
region does face problems in the individual branches (e.g. especially smaller companies do
not cooperate as much as wished for, certain parts of the University seem to be slow as well,
when it comes to cooperation with the economy), but altogether the will to cooperate – from
the side of the municipalities, the chambers, the unions, the universities, and the companies -
25
seems to be very strong in the region. Companies with good ideas and projects do not seem to
have many difficulties finding the right contact person with the city, the CCI or the individual
networks of competences in order to get help with their venture7.
In conclusion: In the last decades the Nuremberg industrial region has fundamentally
redefined and updated its technological and economic capabilities. Approximately 100,000
industrial jobs have been cut or relocated, whilst at the same time 170,000 jobs have been
created in the service sector. The development of the four clusters mentioned above has been
possible because frequently traditional industrial companies have developed new
technological competences. These are backed by advanced business services and an
institutional infrastructure facilitating the creation of and the access to the required
knowledge. This institutional environment will be analysed in the next section.
5.
The institutional structure and the local system of “governance”
In the following, we will describe the institutions, which have facilitated the transformation of
the regional economy. We will concentrate on the five basic institutional conditions, which,
within the framework of the EUROCAP-project, are regarded as being crucial for the
enhancement of regional capabilities: Industrial relations, public welfare, R&D and
technology transfer structure, regional patterns of education, and qualification and institutions
facilitating the access to new markets.
5.1
Industrial relations
The trade unions are an important actor for the regional economy. Here in particular the metal
workers union IG Metall has a considerable influence, since the region is a traditional
industrial region. The trade union density of the labour force in the electrical and mechanical
engineering sector is traditionally high (Klaus 1997). The trade unions are prepared to
cooperate in the consensual renewal of the regional businesses. As early as the 80s they were
engaged in promoting a work-orientated regional and structural policy after the take-over of
Grundig by Philips. They demanded the qualification of the staff as well as the development
of new products instead of redundancies (Dobischat/Neumann 1990). In the 90s the demise of
the classical industries accelerated; „antiquated production plants“ and „obvious shortcomings
7
A sign for this is the high start up quota, which is the highest in Germany.
26
in logistics and the organisation of work“ were identified. Four out of ten Nuremberg
companies were regarded as being in danger (Dörre 1999: 99). Given this background, the IG
Metall demanded in the 90s a change in industrial policy and committed itself to consensual
reorganisation strategies. In cooperation with some managers, more flexible forms of work
organisation, teamwork and inter-company cooperation networks were built up in the socalled „consensual companies“. Complementary, „ since the middle of the 90s a network of
associations, trade unions, consultancy agencies, scientific establishments, and local policies
has been formed, which, in addition to the „consensual companies“, to a certain degree
became the second pillar of the unions regional policy“ (Dörre 1999: 116).
The regional coalition of modernisation was supported at the Land level by the
„Employment Pact Bavaria“. In 1996 this pact was agreed between the Land, the employers
associations, and the trade unions and cancelled in 2002. Numerous measures for the
improvement of the situation regarding training places were agreed. Furthermore, a labour
market fund was created in order to qualify unemployed women and older employees. Thirdly
the government of Bavaria committed itself to improve the employment situation by specific
measures for newly-founded companies and for disadvantaged regions. It is estimated that in
Bavaria almost 300,000 jobs have been saved and around 100,000 jobs created by this pact.
The planned ”new industrial relations” – which assigned the trade unions a central role
in the regional modernisation coalition – nevertheless proved to be unstable for numerous
reasons. On the one hand, the IG Metall only established consensual relationships with
selected managers who were willing to cooperate. The management in particular of external
groups, employers` associations and the Chamber of Commerce and Industry did not take part
in this regional modernisation coalition (Dörre 1999). Additionally, some companies refuse
help, if it is offered from the side of the unions (Interview 10). Therefore, the unions’
initiatives were limited to smaller regionally-embedded businesses. On the other hand, the
scope of the reorganisation strategies proved to be too narrow.
In the Nuremberg region, a far-reaching process of change is in the process. Especially
the traditional metal and electrical engineering companies have to develop fundamentally new
strategies. Without company closures, without the transfer of activities to external service
providers and foreign plants, without the development of new R&D competences, and without
the development of new regional capabilities (for example counselling, market research, call
centre, financial services) this change hardly would have been possible. This put excessive
demands on an association, which draws its strengths and legitimacy from the representation
of interests of the staff of existing companies. Altogether the “consensual companies” were
27
controversial within the individual companies as well as within the union. The different
employees had different perceptions of how the unions work should look like. Both the
flexible younger employees as well as the older employees, standing right before retirement,
are not as much interested in the preservation of jobs but in higher wages, less working hours
or a good pension. The younger ones can find a new job easier and the older ones can just
retire if necessary. The employees between 40-50, who are too young too retire, but do not
stand too many chances on the labour market are obviously mostly interested in measures
saving jobs regardless of the conditions (e.g. longer working hours, lesser pay). Besides that,
if the union makes concessions to one company, all companies from the same branch would
want the same conditions. Therefore even within the unions the idea of the “consensual
companies” was controversial (Interview 10).
Additionally, it is important to mention the relations between Siemens, the largest
company in the region, and the labour unions or the works council. The relationship towards
the IG Metall is “businesslike” correct (Interview 15). The relationship towards the works
council seems according to the spokesman of the sales and distribution area office to be very
stable. At present, the relationship towards both, the works council and the trade unions, has
become tense, as the Siemens Corporation just recently announced plans to move several
thousand jobs abroad. Obviously, Central Franconia is not the only region which has to cope
with similar challenges as jobs in the Nuremberg and Erlangen divisions of PTS, TS and
A&D are in danger. In this context, one of the biggest problems, not only in this region but in
all of Germany is the fact that the labour and the non-wage labour costs are too high in the
eyes of many companies. Therefore, labour intensive work, thus work done by non-skilled or
semi-skilled workers, is reallocated (e.g. to Poland, Czech Republic, China etc.) 8. Of course,
this is a trend the trade unions are opposed to vigorously.
To keep companies from transferring added value activities abroad a representative of
the IG Metall in Nuremberg is suggesting the following measures, of which some are already
in operation and some still need to be worked on. Firstly the competences at the universities
should be expanded in order to fit the industrial structure of the region to a greater extend. For
example, the university has no professorships concerned with the energy industry and thus a
deficiency of engineers with specific qualifications is noticeable in the region. Additionally,
technology transfer at the universities should be improved. At present, the FriedrichAlexander-University only has one position for technology transfer (at the University of
8
Meanwhile even work that requires highly qualified employees is transferred to low-wage countries. In
some technological areas (e.g. software development) the level of education in these countries does not
differ from the one in Germany.
28
Applied Sciences it is only half a position), but over 2,300 scientists. Secondly vocational
training should be aligned with the needs of the regional companies. More attention should be
paid to what companies need during the value-added process. Thirdly the trade unions are
open to concessions regarding wages or working hours, when the desolate situation of a
company requires it. With so called recapitalization labour contracts it is possible to help
companies through difficult times. Fourthly it should actively be tried to initiate innovation
processes and thus to increase efficiency. This does not refer to product innovations only, but
also to process innovations. However, according to the labour union representative networks
of competence are only able to further product innovations and that their activities are not
capable of modernising companies which are in need of rehabilitation.
Nevertheless, the IG Metall is involved in all the networks of competences and
supports them. It has co-founded the EnergieRegion Nürnberg e.V and the CNA „Neuer
Adler“e.V. One of the reasons for the IG Metall’s (but also the Federation of German Trade
Unions - DGB) strong support for the cluster policy is that they, along with all other
institutional actors (cities, chambers, trade unions), were actively involved in designing the
development guideline of the economic region. Consequently, a long term strategy was
developed, everybody agreed to in general.
As mentioned above, the trade unions, and especially the IG Metall, find themselves in
a very difficult situation. Without doubt, a restructuring of the region is inevitable. As it was
easy to see in the past few years, this restructuring moves the employee demand towards
highly qualified employees in the service and production sector, and away from low qualified
production work. Unfortunately a reduction of staff cannot be avoided. Consequently, trade
unions sometimes have to depend on companies and plants which are not seminal, in order to
represent the interests of their members.
Finally, even though not directly belonging to the field of industrial relations, the
relationship of the individual city governments towards each other is essential for the
development of the region. Because of the spatial proximity the cities Erlangen, Fürth and
Nuremberg have an especially tight cooperation within the region, as shown in the joint
design of the development guideline as well as the joint marketing initiative “The Nuremberg
Region” (together with other towns and administrative districts in the region) to promote the
region inward and outward. Another example is the Innovation and Founders Centre (IGZ)
funded by all three cities. The region as a whole is acting as one single actor towards national
and international investors, companies, governments etc. Looking inside though, naturally
29
there is rivalry to be seen between the cities, since for example they compete for the same
companies to be situated in their city. In sum, however, cooperation outweighs rivalry.
5.2
Public welfare
The structural change of the Central Franconian economy is accompanied by a sharp increase
of the regional unemployment rate (cf. Figure 6). In Central Franconia, this rate is
considerably above the Bavarian average (cf. Table 6). The unemployment rate for foreigners
is particularly high. Within Bavaria a downward trend from North to South can be observed.
As it can be seen, looking at the development of unemployment in Central Franconia, the
unemployment rate in this region was growing constantly until the mid 90s, when it had a
short recovery during the IT-Boom and then again started to grow in 2001. In respect to the
unemployment rate of the individual cities, over the years Erlangen has maintained a lower
unemployment rate than Nuremberg or Fürth. In February 2004, the unemployment rate in
Nuremberg reached a peak of 14.4%, whereas Erlangen only had a rate of 8.2%. Fürth
positioned itself with 12.4% in between (Source: Federal Employment Office). The rise of the
unemployment rate can be explained with the structural change in the region (from an old
industrial region to a service oriented region) and with the general stagnation in the German
economy after the burst of the IT bubble in 2000/01. The reason why Nuremberg has such a
considerably higher unemployment rate than Erlangen is that Nuremberg (as well as Fürth)
has always been more orientated towards “old industries” than Erlangen, which mainly profits
from Siemens Medical Solutions and the other four Siemens division headquarters (five of the
seven Siemens divisions are based in Erlangen and only two in Nuremberg). Since the
unemployment rate amongst foreigners is particularly high, and Nuremberg has almost 18.2%
foreigners living in the city (Erlangen has approximately 12% and the Bavarian average is
9.4%) this also explains a fraction of the high unemployment rate.
The unemployed in Central Franconia are – like everywhere else in Germany –
supported by unemployment benefit and assistance. 82.3% of the 48,501 unemployed at the
unemployment office at Nuremberg in 2002, received financial support from the labour
office.
30
Figure 6:
Unemployment rates (in % of dependent civilian labour force) in Nuremberg
25 %
20 %
Leipzig
15 %
Saxony
Germany
10 %
Nuremberg
Bavaria
5%
2002
2001
2000
1999
1998
1997
1996
1995
1994
1993
1992
0%
1991
Unemployment (in % of dependent employment)
and Leipzig (1991-2002)
Source: Federal employment office.
Table 6: Unemployment rates in Nuremberg und Leipzig (in %; 2002)
Unemployed (in % of all civilian labour force)
Unemployed (in % of the dependent labour force)
Unemployment rate - men
Unemployment rate - women
Unemployment rate – those under 25
Foreigners
Source: Statistics of the Federal Employment Office.
GermanyBavaria Central
Franconia
9.8
6.0
7.8
10.8
6.9
8.8
11.3
7.2
9.3
10.3
6.5
8.2
9.7
6.2
7.2
19.1
14.3
20.1
Saxony Leipzig
17.8
19.3
19.0
19.7
15.4
41.1
18.6
20.2
21.6
18.7
17.0
43.0
The percentage of people receiving social assistance in Central Franconia is considerably
below the federal average (Table 7)
Table 7: Those in receipt of continuous social assistance (2000).
Those in receipt of continuous
subsistence support
2,693,527
214,342
Federal Republic of Germany
Bavaria
Central Franconian
administrative district
43,547
Saxony
110,989
Leipzig administrative district
35,837
Source: Federal Statistics Office, 2002: Data base „Statistik regional“.
Percentage of the
population
3.3%
1.8%
2.6%
2.5%
3.3%
31
Table 8: Day establishments for children (1998)
Total
Available places, for children in
kindergarten
crèches
day nursery
Available places
166,927
2,486,780
450,734
3,104,441
Germany
7.0%
105.2%
12.6%
Ratio children/places
417,938
5269
380733
31,936
Available places
Bavaria
1.4%
97.4%
5.7%
Ratio children/places
6,087
571
54328
5971
Cent. Franconia Available places
1.1%
103.6%
7.9%
Ratio children/places
228,004
20,866
97,105
110,033
Available places
Saxony
24.1%
134.9%
69.2%
Ratio children/places
60,645
6,386
23,279
3,098
Available places
Leipzig
30.7%
135.2%
7.9%
Ratio children/places
Ratio children/places: Children in crèches as % of children up to 3 years old; children in kindergarten as % of
children aged 3-6 years; day nursery children as % of children aged 6-10 years.
Children in crèches are those who have not had their third birthday before the end of the previous month;
Children in kindergarten are those whose fourth year of life commences in the current month until they go to
school; Day nursery children are those of primary school age.
Source: Federal Statistics Office, 2002: Data base „Statistik regional“.
In Bavaria and Central Franconia the availability of nursery and kindergarten places in public
institutions is considerably below the German level (cf. Table 8). This can be interpreted as an
indicator for a traditional vision of the family. Nevertheless, in Central Franconia (but not in
Bavaria as a whole) the difference between the employment rates for men and women is
lower than on the federal level (cf. Table 11).
It became obvious during interviews with Siemens employees and representatives of
the cities that, looking closer at the individual cities Nuremberg and Erlangen, kindergarten
places are scarce in Nuremberg, whereas there is a sufficient supply in Erlangen. The Siemens
corporation does not have an own company kindergarten. According to a Siemens spokesman
it has proved to be very difficult to measure the need for kindergarten places in such a large
company, which would result in high costs to obtain such an institution. Additionally, the
commuter belt of the company is very large stretching as far as Bamberg and beyond. It is
possible that many children would have to be pulled out of their social environment to be put
into a kindergarten in Nuremberg. The only institution we know of, that has a kindergarten of
its own is the Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits.
With regard to medical care there are no systematic differences between the regions
(cf. Table 9).
32
Table 9: Medical Care (2000)
Doctors per 1000 inhabitantsHospital beds per 1000 inhabitants
3,58
6,81
3,27
6,85
3,25
6,72
Germany
Bavaria
Central
Franconia
Saxony
3,55
6,66
Leipzig
3,78
6,96
Source: Federal Statistics Office, 2002: Data base „Statistik regional“.
5.3
R&D and technology transfer
The industrial region of Central Franconia is one of the most technologically-intensive
regions in Germany. In 2000, 1,267 patents were applied for and therefore 3.7% of all
German inventions. Measured by the number of patent applications per 100,000 inhabitants,
the industrial region of Central Franconia takes third place in Germany behind the regions of
Stuttgart and Munich (Greif 2001 and Table 10). The intensity of patents is twice as high as in
Germany in total 81.5% of the patents were applied for by companies, 16% by independent
inventors and 2% by science. According to the applications for patents of the European Patent
Office, Central Franconia occupies with 446 applications per one million inhabitants as well a
leading position far above the German (272) and European levels (140) (cf. Table 10).
Greif (2001) describes the specialisation profile of the region as follows: „In the
region of Central Franconia the accent on patent activities also lies in the areas of electronics,
information technology and general electrical engineering. Alongside this however precision
instrument and testing technology and mechanical engineering are also important areas. With
a relatively high quota of inventions in the area of public health the region of Central
Franconia presents itself as the a centre of medical technology in the German research scene“
(cf. Figure 7). 51.4% of all patents were applied for in these five areas. This specialisation
profile also refers to the role of Siemens, which, with 2,290 applications for patents in the
year 2000, was the most prolific German company in applying for patents. The most prolific
central Franconian company, INA Wälzlager Schaeffler oHG, made “only” 192 patent
applications in the year 2000. In this respect it can be assumed that the patent activity in
Central Franconia predominantly comes from one single company (in 1994 Siemens made
27% of their patent applications in Nuremberg; see Greif 1998:13). Additionally, small
companies have their fair share in patent activities, since most of the small start-up companies
are founded on the basis of an invention, i.e. with a patent (Interview 5: 14).
33
In 2003, the number of patent applications was for the first time lower than the number
in previous years. There are a number of explanations why this was the case. One possible
explanation, is that with the downsizing of companies like Lucent (from 2,300 employees in
2000 to 1,400 employees in 2003) or with the insolvency of companies like Grundig the
research and development potential shrunk and thus the patents. Another, very likely
possibility is that many small and medium sized companies did not have as many patent
applications as in previous years. Patent applications are time consuming and costly and with
the German economy being in difficulties and especially small and medium sized companies
being most severely affected by that, it is not surprising that many of them do not have the
capital to invest in patent applications or in research and development activities. It is very
likely that many of these companies had to scale down their cost intensive R&D departments
in the course of saving measures.
Table 10: Applications for patents in selected German planning regions
Stuttgart
Munich
1995
2000
1995
2539
3653
8.6%
1981
3091
6.7%
2000
1995
9.0%
98.4
7.7%
82.9
4.7%
54.7
2000
Source: Greif (2001).
141.3
129.4
63.7
Patent applications
Percentage of the
domestic patent
applications
Patent applications
per100.000
inhabitants
Düsseldorf RhineMain
1632
1517
1901
1680
5.5%
5.1%
Leipzig
Germany
131
140
0.4%
Industrial region of
Central Franconia
998
1267
3.4%
4.2%
56.8
0.3%
n/a
3.1%
78.9
100%
36.2
62.9
12.7
100.2
49.2
29690
40374
100%
34
Figure 7: Patent specialisation in Central Franconia 1995 – 2000 (in comparison with the
German mean)
Ag riculture
-72,37
Fo o d s tuffs , to b acco
-60,99
Pers o nal o r d o mes tic articles
3,66
Health, amus ement
44,90
M ed ical, d ental and co s metic co mp o und s
-85,73
Sep arating , mixing
-55,81
M echanical metal-wo rking , cas ting , machine to o ls
-11,71
Grind ing , p o lis hing , to o ls
-80,07
Printing
-21,39
-57,24
Vehicles , trans p o rtatio n
-57,36
Co nveying , p acking , s to ring , s ad d lery
Ino rg anic chemis try
-79,65
Org anic chemis try
-94,73
Org anic macro mo lecular co mp o und s
-96,90
Dyes , p etro leum, o ils , fats
-80,28
Bio chemis try, s ug ar, s kins
-73,41
M etallurg y
29,93
Textiles ; flexib le materials
12,62
Pap er
-83,16
Build ing
-67,49
M ining
-92,64
Eng ines o r turb ines
30,07
Eng ineering in g eneral
22,00
Lig hting , heating
4,37
81,89
Weap o ns , b las ting
M eas uring , tes ting , o p tics , p ho to g rap hy
26,23
Time meas uring , s teering , rules , calculating , co ntro lling
53,06
Ed ucatio n, co mp uting , info rmatio n s to rag e
-10,66
Nucleo nics
97,62
-100
-80
-60
-40
-20
0
20
40
54,71
Electricity
53,99
Electro nics , co mmunicatio n techno lo g ies
60
80
100
The relative patent share (RPS) for the existing data was calculated according to the following formula:
(RPSij) = 100 tanh ln [(Pij / ∑j Pij) / (∑j Pij / ∑ij Pij)], with Pij: Number of patents in a country/in a region i in
the technological field j.
Source: Own calculation on the basis of Greif (2001).
35
Table 11:
Population, labour market and innovation in Central Franconia and Leipzig
European
Union
(EU 15)
Population in 1000, 2000
375,460
GDP per capita (PPS 2000, EU15 = 100 100
Employment rate (ages 15-64 as % of 64.3
pop. aged 15-64), 2001; Total
Employment rate (ages 15-64 as % of 73.5
pop. aged 15-64), 2001; male
Employment rate (ages 15-64 as % of 55.1
pop. aged 15-64), 2001; female
Unemployment rate (%) Total, 2001
7.6
Long term unemployed, 2001 (% of total 42.5
unempl.)
Unemployment rate (%) female, 2001
8.9
Unemployment rate (%) young, 2001
15.1
Employment by sector (% of total), 2001 4.1
Agriculture
Employment by sector (% of total), 2001 28.5
Industry
Employment by sector (% of total), 2001 66.7
Services
Educational attainment of : persons aged 34.2
25-59 (% of total), 2001 low
Educational attainment of : persons aged 43.5
25-59 (% of total), 2001 medium
Educational attainment of : persons aged 22.3
25-59 (% of total), 2001 high
R&D Expenditure in % GDP (1997)
1.85
High
and
medium
high
tech 7.4
manufacturing
(in
%
of
total
employment; 2002)
High-tech manufacturing (in % of total 1.3
employment; 2002)
Knowledge-intensive services (in % of 33.3
total employment; 2002)
High-Tech-services (in % of total 3.6
employment; 2002)
EPO patent applications per million inh., 140.1
average 98-99-2000
High tech patent applications - 2000 per 32 (2001)
million inhabitants
Human resources in science and 12.9%
technology (% of population (25-64 (1997)
years) with 3rd level education; 2000)
Germany
Bavaria
Central
Franconia
Saxony
Leipzig
82,188
106.4
65.7
12,187
124
71.4
1,685
126.3
69.3
4,442
70.4
62.2
1,094
75
61.7
72.6
78.7
75.6
65.5
64.9
58.7
63.9
62.9
58.8
58.4
7.8
49.6
4.3
43.4
5.2
46
14
55
14.3
56.8
8.1
9.2
2.6
4.4
4.7
3.6
5.4
5.3
2.9
15.7
16.7
3.1
15.2
16.5
2.3
32.8
36.2
36.7
33.2
28.7
64.6
60.3
60.4
63.7
69
16.1
18.5
18.6
4.7
5.1
59.7
58.3
56.7
65.2
65.4
24.2
23.3
24.7
30.2
29.5
2.3
11.4
2.9 (1999)
14.1
2.5
14.1
2.2
7.4
2.2
5.8
1.9
2.4
2.5
1.6
1.4
31.8
30.4
31.1
30.1
34.6
3.3
3.2 (1999)
3.6
2.2 (1999)
3.3
271.9
440.1
81
36.2
49 (2001)
445.5
518 (`01)
95.18
22
21
3.49
31
High tech Manufacturing: 30 Manufacture of office machinery and computers; 32 Manufacture of radio, television and
communication equipment and apparatus; 33 Manufacture of medical precision and optical instruments watches and clocks;
Medium-high tech manufacturing: 24 Manufacture of chemicals and chemical products; 29 Manufacture of machinery and
equipment n.e.c.; 31 Manufacture of electrical machinery and apparatus n.e.c.; 34 Manufacture of motor vehicles, trailers and
semi-trailers; 35 Manufacture of other transport equipment;
Knowledge-intensive services: 61 Water transport; 62 Air transport; 64 Post and telecommunications; 65 Financial
intermediation, except insurance and pension funding; 66 Insurance and pension funding, except compulsory social security;
67 Activities auxiliary to financial intermediation; 70 Real estate activities; 71 Renting of machinery and equipment without
operator and of personal and household goods; 72 Computer and related activities; 73 Research and development; 74 Other
business activities; 80 Education; 85 Health and social work; 92 Recreational, cultural and sporting activities. Of these
sectors, 64, 72 and 73 are considered high tech services.
Source: Strack (2003), European Commission, 2003: Second progress report on economic and social cohesion. Brussels,
COM(2003) 34/4; European Commission, 2001b: Regions: Statistical Yearbook 2001. Luxembourg: Office for
Official Publications of the EC.
36
In an international perspective, the central Franconian sectoral structure is characterised by
advanced and High Technologies. Whilst the employment ratio of knowledge-based services
ranks with 31.1% (2002) below the national and European average, the ratio of advanced and
leading-edge technology is with 14.1% (2002) considerably above these averages. The central
Franconian economy is particularly strong in leading-edge technology (for example medical
precision instruments) (cf. Table 11).
In a European perspective (see Strack 2003 and Table 12), Central Franconia ranks on
the 11th place in advanced technologies and on the 14th place in High-tech manufacturing. As
the number of employees in both fields has indeed fallen in the last five years, whilst the other
European NUTS-2 regions (comparable to administrative districts) can report an average
yearly increase in the number of employees in these sectors of 0.9% and 0.3% respectively,
the relative position of Central Franconia in both sectors has declined (1997: 8th and 13th place
respectively). This also applies to the quickly expanding sectors of knowledge-based and
technology-related services. These employment sectors are expanding in Central Franconia,
however, the rate of growth is below the average yearly growth rates in the EU (1997-2003:
3.1 and 5.5%).
Table 12:
Relative position and growth of high tech and medium-high tech
manufacturing and knowledge-intensive services in Central Franconia and
Leipzig
Central Franconia
Leipzig
Ranking (2002;
Annual average
Ranking (2002;
Annual average
among 207
growth rates in %
among 207
growth rates in %
European regions)
(1997-2002)
European regions)
(1997-2002)
11
-0.7
118
-1.4
High and medium high
tech manufacturing (in
% of total employment;
2002)
High-tech manu14
-3.4
79
facturing (in % of total
employment; 2002)
Knowledge-intensive
110
1.9
79
services (in % of total
employment; 2002)
High-Tech-services (in 61
1.4
75
% of total employment;
2002)
Source: Unpublished calculations of EUROSTAT (cf. Strack 2003).
14.5
2.6
7.9
On the one hand, it can be maintained that Central Franconia is one of the most
technology-intensive German and European regions. Both the patent applications and the
employment rates in high- and leading-edge technology point to outstanding technological
37
competences. On the other hand, however, it can be presumed that these regional
technological competences are to large extent competences of one single company, the largest
industrial employer of the region. From an organisational point of view, the diversification of
the regional innovative potential is rather low – even if the Siemens AG is active in many
different technological fields. It has also to be taken into account that the knowledge-intensive
employment sectors in industry as well as in service industries have shrunk or have shown
below-average growth in the last few years.
Given this background, a coalition for facilitating the sectoral and technological
transformation of the region has been formed in the 90s. In this respect, special importance
has to be attributed to the Bavarian State Ministry for Economy, Transport and Technology,
the city of Nuremberg, the Nuremberg Chamber of Commerce and Industry for Central
Franconia, and the Erlangen-Nuremberg University. These actors are, on the one hand,
attempting to deepen and broaden the technological knowledge-base of the region by setting
up new research and development centres. On the other hand, the cooperation and the
exchange of knowledge between different regional actors are intended to be intensified.
The strategies for broadening the technical competence base can be founded on seven
regional universities, in particular on the Erlangen-Nuremberg University and the GeorgSimon-Ohm University for Applied Science in Nuremberg. The university ErlangenNuremberg has 11 faculties, including a medical (1,077 employees), a technical (1,236
employees), and three natural science faculties. With 450 professors, 11,759 professional and
part-time staff members (2001) and approximately 21,200 students it is the largest university
in northern Bavaria. In the 2002/2003 winter term the students were spread as follows over
the five main fields of the university: (1) Legal, social and economic sciences: 33%, (2)
Humanities and cultural sciences: 25%, (3) Natural sciences (including informatics): 19%, (4)
Human medicine and dentistry: 13%, (5) Engineering sciences: 10%.
Some research topics of the university are life sciences, modelling and simulation, material
sciences, mechatronics, and optical research. The German Research Foundation has assigned
nine priority programmes to the university – especially in medical, technical and scientific
fields.
The Georg-Simon-Ohm University for Applied Science has 260 professors, 7,500
students (2002) – mostly in the technical and economic fields (3,970 and 2,161 students
respectively).
Considering the different fields of both universities, the most outstanding ones are
medicine, natural sciences (including informatics), and engineering as well as the technical
38
fields in general according to most of the interviewees. These scientific fields were especially
emphasised as mainly the chairs of these departments are closely cooperating with regional
companies. Generally it can be stated though, that mainly large companies use the research
potential in universities. This is mainly due to the slow moving behaviour of an institution
like the university (Interview 7: 7). Small companies do not have the time to deal with the
university for a long time. Additionally, it seems to be difficult to find out where aid money
or even the own company money has gone to in the “black box” university.
According to the managerial head of the medicine and pharmaceutics network of
competence and according to the head of the Siemens company site in Erlangen the
cooperation in the medical sector between the university chairs, institutions, university
hospitals, and Siemens Medical Solutions is very close. However, it is difficult to quantify
this cooperation, since it does not take place on a continuous institutional basis, but is
punctual and project bound. The same applies to chairs in the technology department of the
Friedrich-Alexander-University and the University for Applied Science. Cooperation between
the research centres of the individual business segments of Siemens seems to take place, even
more than the cooperation with the universities, only in particular cases. One example for this
is the development of the health card (saves all patient information; possibility of an
electronic prescription etc.), which takes place in close cooperation of Siemens Medical
Solutions (Erlangen), Siemens Business Services (Fürth) and Siemens Information an
Communication Networks (Munich).
From the trade union it was expressed that the research and teaching topics at the
universities are not sufficiently adjusted to the regional economy. Especially the faculty for
business administration, economics and social sciences does not seem to meet the trade
unions expectations, since most of their research topics are not concerned with the regional
economy. According to the trade union, departments and scientists in the field of power
engineering are also missing. A spokesman of the city of Nuremberg has additionally
criticised how difficult it is to get the university to, for example, create a new, application
oriented chair (even with state funds). According to this spokesman the cooperation with the
University for Applied Sciences is much easier, since the structures are not as stiff as at the
Friedrich-Alexander-University. A definite example for this would be the creation of a new
chair in the Field of propulsion technology funded by the Bavarian government, which, out of
the named reason, was established at the University of Applied Science.
None of the 12 Bavarian Max-Planck-Institutes (fundamental research) is located in
northern Bavaria, but a new Max-Planck-Research Group for Optics, Information and
39
Photonics was established on the new Research Technology Campus in Erlangen, which used
to be a Siemens research site. Nonetheless with the two Fraunhofer Institutes the regional
institutes concentrate more on applied research. The Fraunhofer Institutes are located in the
region and are concentrated on the area of microelectronics – integrated circuits (IIS) and
integrated systems and component technology (ISB). In addition, within the first institute, a
Fraunhofer working group for cordless telephone communications and multimedia technology
and a user-centre for transport logistics and communications technology was established and
continues to operate. Since 1984 the area of microelectronics has been supported by the
Ministry of Economy with grants of approximately €105 million. As the Federal Government
takes on 90% of the costs of the Fraunhofer Institutes, the federal share is correspondingly
greater.
The Fraunhofer Institutes are very important for the regional research structure since
they conduct practical research, which is of immediate importance to companies. According
to a number of Interviewees the number of innovative spin-offs out of the institutes is rather
high, resulting in a close connection between the companies and the institutes. Another
advantage of the Fraunhofer Institutes compared to e.g. the universities, is that the continuity
of the employees within this institution is higher and thus the continuity of (long term) studies
becomes more likely (Interview 4).
Within the framework of the Bavarian High-Tech-Offensive (2000), further
competence centres in the area of „network access technology“, „optical communications
technology“ and „interoperative systems“ are to be promoted. These activities and further
research into the theme of logistics and communications technology and mechatronics are
concentrated in the research centre „Northeast Park Research Factory“ (Bavarian Ministry of
State 2003) with 85 staff at present, which opened in 2003. The “Research Factory” is part of
a greater complex named “The Northeast Park”, which functions as a high-tech and research
centre for start-up and established companies and for institutions (e.g. Lucent or the
Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits, division for applied electronics). It seems though,
that a random mix of transportation and logistics scientists, together with communications
engineers and production companies has settled there. As a matter of fact a vast diversity of
companies has chosen to inhabit the site. The companies range from software development
over printing technology to environmental engineering and it does seem difficult to establish
synergies between the companies. Examples where these synergies have been established or
are likely to be established are the IZMP (Innovation Centre for Medicine and Pharmaceutics)
and the etz (Energy Technological Centre). In both centres, companies and institutions from a
40
particular field have moved in. It is needless to say that it is not possible to force cooperation.
However, spatial proximity is a good basis for communication and cooperation within and
across a field (although there is no proof for that in our example).
Within the framework of the regional high-tech-offensive, the development of an
electronic commerce platform, the setting-up of an infrastructure institution for call-centres,
the technology transfer institute of “Bayern Innovativ”, founded in 1995, the building of the
Bavarian Foreign Trade Centre in Nuremberg, and the enlargement of the Nuremberg Fair are
to be promoted.
Additionally, by these means, competence centres in the areas of telecommunication,
medical technology and pharmaceutics, mechatronics and new materials have developed over
the past few years. As mentioned above, the function of the networks of competence is to
establish efficient networks within a competence field, to interlink the different actors, and to
facilitate technology transfer. This task seems to have been mastered well in most of the
initiatives. All important scientific and governmental institutions are members in the
corresponding initiatives as well as most of the important companies. Not all companies have
interest in joining “clubs” like that. Mostly it is small companies who believe they do not
have the time and money to engage in activities like that.
Unfortunately, it is impossible to exactly state the effect the initiatives had on the
technology transfer between the actors or their R&D activities. None of the interviewees was
able to quantify their success. However, in each initiative there seemed to be at least a few
examples of successful co-operations.
Although the networking on the basis of the individual initiatives seems to be working
well, the cooperation of the initiatives and – more important - the corresponding industries
and companies with each other does not take place on a regular basis. Some companies are
member in more then one initiative resulting in up to date information on the developments in
several fields. Also the initiatives themselves are in contact, however, there is no umbrella
organization, which coordinates the activities of all of the initiatives and interlinks them in a
way to enable possible synergies (this can happen on a regional level but also on a Land
level). One way to achieve this regionally is to have a joint back office. This would be a
possibility to cut costs and to promote closer cooperation among the initiatives. According to
the managerial head of NIK, another way would be the establishment of an organisation
which can function as a project executing organisation. Neither the city nor the initiatives
have the financial or human resources to be able to guide state funded or other projects all the
way down to an operational level. This would then be the job of an umbrella organisation. It
41
would be possible to leave the restricting level of technology fields and think in projects, so
that the interaction with different sectors would be made easier. Nonetheless the level of
network cooperation is much higher in the Nuremberg region than in many other regions (see
Leipzig) and most of the actors have realised their importance.
Complementary to these networks of competence, the regional Chamber of Commerce
is coordinating a number of user-clubs, in order to support technology transfer (e-business,
data protection, new materials, non-destructive material testing, technology and innovation
management, quality management, energy, environment and job-protection). The user-clubs
meet on a regular basis, so that users and suppliers can come together and are able to interact.
Altogether the cities and the companies themselves are involved in a lot to further
technology transfer and R&D activities in the region. Additionally, the state is sponsoring a
large number of projects in the five different competence fields (communication and
multimedia, transport and logistics, energy, medicine and pharmaceuticals, new materials).
The statement of Sträter (1991:13) therefore surely cannot be maintained: „In a regional
comparison the Nuremberg area has a serious deficiency in the number of research and
development personnel in companies and research establishments outside of universities”.
5.4
Education, qualifications, skills
At the beginning of the 90s, the qualification structure of the region was viewed with extreme
scepticism. „The Nuremberg area has ... a high proportion of poorly-trained employees and
only a small proportion of highly-trained ones ... therefore the demand for the development of
engineering departments associated to the universities of the region is repeated.“ (Sträter
1991: 13)
In Table 13 it can be seen that this opinion is no longer valid. It is true that the
proportion of unqualified personnel in Central Franconia is still above the Bavarian and
German average. At the same time, however, the proportion of those having taken final
examinations in secondary schools is considerably higher than in Bavaria or Germany (cf.
also similar to the EUROSTAT figures in Table 11).
42
Table 13:
Type of training completed by employees subject to social security
(total, according to sex and non-Germans; June 2000)
Employees subject to social security in their place of work
(June 2000)
Germany
Total
male
female
Foreigners
Without having completed vocational training
18.0%
17.6%
18.4%
41.1%
With completed vocational training
62.7%
61.9%
63.8%
32.5%
Having completed studies at a technical college,
8.5%
10.1%
6.4%
4.4%
institute of higher learning or university
Total (including nil returns; 100 %)
Bavaria
27,825,624
15,543,911
12,281,713
1,963,090
Without having completed vocational training
20.2%
18.3%
22.6%
40.3%
With completed vocational training
62.4%
62.9%
61.8%
34.5%
Having completed studies at a technical college,
8.1%
10.4%
5.2%
5.0%
4,364,659
2,448,921
1,915,738
359,809
21.1%
18.3%
24.6%
46.7%
With completed vocational training
61.5%
61.8%
61.2%
29.9%
Having completed studies at a technical college,
8.7%
11.8%
4.9%
4.5%
institute of higher learning or university
Total (including nil returns, 100 %)
C. Franconia Without having completed vocational training
institute of higher learning or university
Total (including nil returns, 100 %)
Saxony
643,949
358,828
285,121
54,967
Without having completed vocational training
10.3%
11.1%
9.5%
14.0%
With completed vocational training
68.9%
68.0%
69.9%
42.1%
Having completed studies at a technical college,
11.9%
12.2%
11.6%
15.5%
institute of higher learning or university
Total (including nil returns; 100 %)
Leipzig
1,526,531
796,879
729,652
9,993
Without having completed vocational training
10.5%
11.2%
9.7%
15.1%
With completed vocational training
66.3%
65.2%
6.7%
36.2%
Having completed studies at a technical college,
12.2%
12.6%
11.8%
13.9%
382,723
197,029
185,694
3,235
institute of higher learning or university
Total (including nil returns; 100 %)
Source: Federal Statistics Office, 2002: Data base „Statistik regional“.
The number of graduates in the year 2000 (cf. Table 14) does not, however, support these
results. In Bavaria, the proportion of those with A-level school-leaving certificates is
considerably lower than in Germany as a whole, whilst the proportion of pupils with and
without a “Hauptschule” school leaving certificates is above the German level. The high
selectivity of the Bavarian school system in fact goes alongside a higher scholastic capability
(cf. Baumert et al. 2002). Certainly the proportion of students to the population of Bavaria is
below the German average (2000: 1.8 % compared with 2.2 %). It is, however, an open
question as to whether these below-average quotes for students and academics – which still lie
below the German figure, itself low when compared internationally (OECD 2003) – are to
lead to bottlenecks in the economic development in the region of Central Franconia. Indeed
there are a few qualifications which are missing in the regions according to the interviewees.
43
It is especially difficult to get software developers, engineers with specific qualifications and
skilled employees in areas like metal or chemistry.
According to the head of the Siemens company site in Erlangen software developers
can be found all over the world to a much cheaper price than in Germany. Siemens employs a
number of foreign developers in Germany, additionally to the software developers in India or
other countries. Being a service which can easily be transferred, it can be rendered regardless
of the location. Nonetheless Siemens trains software developers in the company and supports
university departments in the field (e.g. the Chair of Medical Informatics at the FriedrichAlexander-University).
According to a trade union spokesman, especially engineers in special fields of energy
are missing in the region. A spokesperson of Siemens confirmed that impression, although in
this case as well, the regional labour market is not decisive, but the national and international
one. Even if in Germany the number of students in different kinds of engineering is rising
slowly, the low interest in this field in previous years still leads to a lack of graduates
resulting
in
a
higher
demand
than
supply
(Source:
http://www.vdi.de/imperia/md/content/hg/15.pdf). This is not only the case in Central
Franconia but in Germany in total.
Skilled employees with a well-founded vocational training are missing in a few areas
as well. Here especially small and medium sized companies have difficulties finding the
equivalent personnel. These companies do not have the money to train their own staff. Since
many companies think they do not have the financial resources to provide vocational training,
employees in certain sectors (e.g. metal, chemistry) are scarce and so the businesses poach
employees from other businesses making them even more expensive. Although, according to
the managerial head of one of the initiatives (Interview 8: 4), the companies are well aware of
the need to train new staff in order to maintain certain know-how, but still many only think of
their short term success.
With certain qualifications not being present in the region, the companies have to
recruit employees from the national or even international labour market. To attract highly
qualified personnel it is important that more than just the salary is good. Equally important are
the soft factors. In this respect the quality of life is an often named aspect. The region
provides, according to the managerial head of the Innovation and Founders Centre a very high
“quality of life for affordable prices”. The region has vast leisure time possibilities, good
cultural offerings, and fairly reasonable living costs. The only problem is, that most people
not living in the area do not know that. The image of the region is not as dazzling as the
44
image of cities like Munich or Berlin. It is the task of a marketing initiative like “The
Nuremberg Region” to improve the image of the region and make it more interesting for
potential employees (or investors).
Regarding the recruiting of qualified personnel, small and medium sized companies
have more trouble than large ones. Especially when shortage of a certain kind of
qualifications occurs large companies can pay higher wages and can offer better benefits than
small ones. Therefore, smaller companies have to take measures in order to be able to employ
the needed number of qualified personnel. Companies can do that with offering internships or
the possibility to write the final year project in their company, so that the potential future
employee already has a connection with the company (Interview 3: 14).
Altogether the demand for highly qualified academics and skilled workers in
specialised fields is rising, whereas the demand for unqualified/low qualified workers and in
some areas even skilled workers is decreasing. Labour intensive work can be transferred
abroad where it is considerably cheaper.
It is the production factories which are the weak point of the region. It is on the other
side not expected that Siemens research and development will have to face reduction
(Interview 15). The individual headquarters of the divisions need competences within the
region and it is very likely that this is going to stay research and development. Other
companies as well need some kind of competence in the region in order for them to stay in the
area. These competences should be, as the managerial head of the “Energy Region
Nuremberg” emphasises, the quality and the innovative ability and thus the know-how of the
region. But precisely this is something which has proven to be harder and harder to
accomplish compared to other countries or regions.
45
Tabl 14: Educational schooling: Graduates/school-leavers after final examinations (2000)
Total
(100 %)
Federal Republic of Germany
928,038
Bavaria
129,858
Without a
school
leaving
certificate
9.3%
With a
“Hauptschule”
school leaving
certificate
24.8%
With a
secondary
school level I
certificate
40.1%
With general college
matriculation requirements
(without technical college
matriculation requirements)
24.7%
9.4%
36.3%
34.2%
20.1%
Central Franconian administrative17,963
district
Saxony
60,682
11.1%
37.2%
31.5%
20.2%
12.1%
11.2%
50.8%
26.0%
Leipzig administrative district
13.4%
11.9%
47.0%
27.7%
14,481
Source: Federal Statistics Office, 2002: Data base „Statistik regional“.
5.5
New markets
The opening of the borders in Central and Eastern Europe already had and will have several
consequences for Central Franconia and the whole of Germany in the future. Since the region
is fairly close to Central Europe the effects of the EU enlargement on this region will even be
greater than on many other regions in Germany and in Europe, making this occurrence very
important for the area. The effects of the Eastern enlargement are supposedly going to be both
positive and negative for the regional companies, employees, governments, and the economy
as a whole. In the following paragraphs the apprehensions and opportunities of the
enlargement, are going to be discussed.
The biggest apprehensions expressed are the consequences of the sizable gap between
the wage levels in Germany and in Eastern Europe. Many companies have already moved
production sites, warehouses etc. to the neighbouring countries making employees in
Germany redundant. At present, it is especially labour intensive work that is moved and
therefore low skilled workers have to suffer most from this development. According to the
managerial head of the CNA network of competence many transport services have moved
their low level production further east in order to stay competitive. With the rising and already
comparatively high education level in Eastern European countries, high skilled work can be
transferred as well. In this connection language does not seem to be a problem.
A second aspect is the bigger competition regional companies are facing. Companies
from Eastern Europe can complete orders with a fraction of the costs and thus with a fraction
of the prize as well.
Especially the transport and building industry in the regions close to the borders are
going to be affected by this development (Interview 12: 13).
Nonetheless the eastern enlargement also holds chances for the region. It is likely that
Central Franconia will reassume its traditional role as a focal knot in the exchange networks
46
between Eastern and Western Europe. The accomplishment of the Eastern enlargement of the
EU could produce an extra thrust. Central Franconia could – according to the EUCommission in 1999 – gain status as the „Gateway to Eastern Europe“. The Eastern
enlargement brings a market of 75 Million people into the EU, which brings about an
incredible sales potential for the companies located in this region. Today the regional industry
already sells 42% of its products abroad. Particularly export-intensive are medical and control
technology, the electrical and mechanical engineering industry and the automobile supply
industry, which export more than half of their products (cf. Table 15). 2,500 foreign trading
companies with branches throughout the world were counted in the region; 1,100 companies
have connections with Central and Eastern European countries and the export to Central and
Eastern Europe in Bavaria has almost passed the one to the United States (Interview 12: 12).
47
Table 15:
Export share of the Central Franconian industry (Export in % of total sales,
2002)
Selected economic branch
Volume of export ofCentral FranconiaBavaria Germany
central
Franconian(in %)
(in %)
(in %)
58.5
60.9
49.4
and4,199,440
55.5
46.5
36.4
Mechanical engineering
2,971,698
54.0
52.0
50.6
Vehicles and vehicle parts
770,929
53.6
63.2
59.6
Chemical industry
484,441
43.9
49.2
51.5
Furniture, jewellery, musical instruments,597,125
39.0
24.0
24.0
industry (1000 €)
Medical, precision instruments, tax and1,392,018
control technology, optics
Appliances
for
the
generation
distribution of electricity
sports equipment
Of which are toys
173,275
40.9
39.6
32.7
Metal production and metal-working
374,374
36.2
34.8
38.6
information645,939
32.3
62.6
54.8
Metal products
398,194
30.5
23.5
24.8
Other automobile construction
54,977
30.1
46.9
53.2
Clothing industry
25,652
29.2
34.3
32.2
Paper industry
105,436
24.4
37.9
36.1
Textile industry
17,794
22.6
36.0
37.3
20.3
26.8
22.4
Radio,
television
and
technology
Glass, ceramics, processing of stones and120,921
earth
Rubber and plastic goods
256,462
19.6
32.0
33.0
Timber industry (excl. furniture)
32,916
12.3
15.9
20.1
Nutrition industry
202,211
11.1
16.1
12.6
Publishing, printing industry, copying
137,139
10.2
8.3
7.7
Industry in total
12,914,787
41.8
43.8
38.0
Source: IHK (2003:83).
As mentioned above, many companies will transfer production sites, having an effect on the
employment situation at home. However, with new markets emerging in Eastern Europe it is
likely that these companies are going to grow and thus will need more personnel – in
Germany as well. The “Institute of the German Economy” (DIW) expects a more efficient
production and an increasing trade volume of Germany with the acceding countries, which
48
could lead to an additional economic growth of up to half a percentage point in the next two
years (Source: Handelsblatt, 14.04.2004).
The Eastern Enlargement is without question a chance for local companies. It is of
crucial importance though, that the location preserves its most important competences, which
distinguish the Nuremberg Region (and the whole of Germany as well) from other countries.
A high productivity, a high innovation potential and diverse research, and development
activities have to be maintained and evolved even further. This is important in order to be
ahead of international competition and be able to achieve higher profits.
One further aspect should be mentioned at this point. The concern mostly expressed
during the interviews in the area was that the wage level in Eastern Europe is considerably
lower and therefore companies are going lay off people in Central Franconia and move their
sites towards the East. This is a very realistic concern considering that Siemens plans to
reallocate thousands of jobs (including jobs in Nuremberg locations in traffic engineering and
a transformer plant) further east. Nevertheless the stronger economic linkage with the rest of
the EU will not be without effects on the wage structure in Central and Eastern Europe. It is
likely that the wage structures are going to align in the long run. This does mean that
Germany will not be able to hold its high wage level; however, the development of wages in
CEE is already geared to the wage level in the rest of the EU. Even today a commercial
director in the Czech Republic earns only 11% less than a person in the same position in
Spain (Handelsblatt, 03.12.2004).
In addition to the named chances the region also has some favourable structures
linking it to the international market. The region has an international airport, a modern Fair
and Congress Centre (for example for the annual toy fair) and a large logistics and
distribution centre. Additionally, the Bavarian Foreign Trade Centre was founded in 2001 in
Nuremberg within the framework of the High-Tech-Offensive, in order to assist small and
medium-sized businesses in opening up foreign markets.
49
6.
Conclusion
In recent publications, the economic and technological capabilities of the Nuremberg/central
Franconian region are assessed in extremely different ways. On the one hand, Central
Franconia was described as a traditional industrial region in a deep crisis – a region which
depends on the decisions of external headquarters and which is characterised by a lowqualified work force and a low intensity of innovation and research (Sträter 1991, Dörre
1999). On the other hand, the numerous applications for patents, the dynamic economic
development, the intensity of patents, the high proportion of high-tech inventions and the
altogether high strength of innovation are emphasised (see the relevant ranking lists in IHK
2003: 72-72).
The different findings cannot be clarified simply by the different times at which these
assessments were made (for example by reference to the successful structural change since the
crisis at the beginning of the 90s). Regional competences do not disappear within a period of
a few years – and likewise they cannot be rebuilt in a few years. Rather the pessimistic and
optimistic scenarios point to both sides of the same coin, namely the far-reaching change in
structure of a traditional industrial region. On the one hand, in the context of a worldwide
competition in innovation and costs this traditional industrial region is characterised by
numerous legacies of the past. This is demonstrated by the low number of academics and
those with A-levels and the limited number of technical courses in the regional universities.
On the other hand, new technological competences and business activities can be developed
on the basis of established industrial strengths. As well as the investments in the „knowledge
infrastructure“ supported by the Land government and also the subsequent cluster policies of
the regional actors (ICC, city of Nuremberg, trade unions) new competences and added value
areas are created in a path-dependent way. Traditional strengths in the electrical and metal
sectors were used as a basis for the development of new industrial competences (information
and communications technology, microelectronics, new materials, logistics, energy
technology) and new added value areas in the area of production-related services (market
research, trade, consultancy, call centres, financial services).
Certain strength and weaknesses of the region were worked out in this paper and will
be summarised in the following paragraphs.
The weaknesses of the region are predominantly found in the universities, the
administration or politics respectively, the economical structure and sometimes the business
structure as well. Although the educational environment of the region is principally sufficient,
50
there are a number of aspects which could be improved. Firstly in some areas the FriedrichAlexander-University does not seem to be open for concerns of regional companies.
Especially chairs and departments in the fields of “energy and environment” and
“transportation and logistics” are missing. The public administration is above all blamed for
lacking the ability to assert the realization of its projects. Furthermore, the individual cities
have, although harmonious towards the outside, still their own interests, visions and projects,
which sometimes leads to internal disharmony. As already discussed, the region is facing a
structural change at the moment, so that the economical environment is still embossed by
traditional industrial structures, which unfortunately does not bring many advantages in a
knowledge oriented society, especially since simple production can be pursued much more
favourable in other locations. The last weakness to be named is, as most interviewees saw it,
the underestimation of the location both within and outside of the region. More than once the
“understatement of the Franconians” was mentioned, who appear to feel disadvantaged
especially compared to Munich. A “defined visibility” (Interview 7: 15), which defines itself
at narrow responsibilities is missing towards the outside. With the exception of maybe
medical technology a known image, which could establish the individual clusters nationally
and internationally, is missing.
An additional point, which does not necessarily have to be a weakness, is that the
technical potential of the region depends to a considerable extent on the competitive strengths
of a few companies. Many of these companies are controlled by external headquarters. But
the high proportion of divisions and plants belonging to major external companies does not
have to be seen as a weakness of the regional economy. The level of employment in
dependent branch offices and plants can be drastically reduced in times when business
activity is weak. However, in no way are the company headquarters spared from such
developments; this is demonstrated by the closure of many long-standing Nuremberg
companies. The development of new regional competences would have been impossible
without externally controlled international companies. The high export share of the central
Franconian region shows how much the region profits from multinational companies –
whether they have their headquarters in the region or elsewhere.
Concerning the business environment, it is remarkable that the individual companies
are fairly well connected amongst each other as well as with the scientific and political
institutions. The grown structures of the region have as a consequence that, especially in the
fields of medical technology and IT and communications, a diversified structure of small as
well as large businesses can be found. When many companies from one branch have already
51
settled in an area, this leads to other companies considering rather this location when thinking
about further investments. Siemens Medical Solution, for example, is convinced that the fact
that there are many other medical technology companies in the area is a clear advantage of
this location (Interview 13: 3). Additionally, it has to be mentioned that the number of start-up
companies in this region is the highest in the whole of Germany. This is to a great extend due
to the regional and Land politics, which further entrepreneurship with projects like the
“business plan competition”. The Land government enforces the strengths of the region
amongst others, with the funding of numerous projects in the context of the High-TechOffensive Bavaria. The regional administration is doing its best as well to make the area more
attractive. For example: The building permit for the new Siemens Medical Solutions plant
was issued in only six weeks (Interview 14: 9). The output of the cooperation, network and
research initiatives of the municipalities, the Land government and the federal government is
fairly effective. Projects and initiatives funded by the local or federal authorities seem to have
a significant impact on the local economy. Although none of the interviewees was able to
quantify the success, all of them had the impression that the region and its economy are
moving forward.
The relationship with the trade unions is also mostly harmonious. As much as it is
possible for them the trade unions are making an effort to make advances to employers and
they are as well actively interested in a consensus and a development of the region.
The educational environment is despite the already named deficiencies very good.
Apart from a few exceptions the education and the educational level in the region was
described by the interviewees to be very good. The long engineering tradition was estimated
to have a positive effect on the diverse research environment of the region (Interview 7: 14).
Additionally to the just named factors the good infrastructure with many transport
connections (international Airport, harbour, and motorways) is important. The geopolitical
location in the centre of Europe makes the area more attractive as well. Last, but not least the
quality of life is very high, and this to fairly reasonable prizes.
All together the region combines soft and hard location factors quite well. This can be
seen in the regional ranking within 241 European regions were Central Franconia is 28th, and
4th looking among the German regions. In this region an incremental path-dependent state and
company driven reorganisation of regional capabilities it taking place at the moment.
Another important aspect that has to be considered is the role of Siemens in the region.
The question here is to what extent cooperative and exchange relations with regional actors
(for example with the clinics at Erlangen, with newly-founded companies, with regional
52
suppliers and service providers) are playing and will play a significant role in the
advancement of regional and organisational competences?
Siemens and Siemens Managers respectively are member of a considerable number of
committees in the region (e.g. ICC, city council in Erlangen) and the company is represented
in most of the networks of competence. It can be deduced from this that the company is
strongly interested in the development of the location. Siemens takes also part in many
cultural and social projects in the region. On the one hand, this bearing mirrors the maxim of
corporate responsibility stated in the company’s principles. On the other hand, especially the
commitment to economical and political projects and institutions is a sign for the accuracy
with which Siemens is monitoring this region in order to be able to predict further
developments, in order to be able to have an influence on them and to, if possible, utilise
synergies. Location decisions of such a company are based mainly on profitability. Therefore,
it is probable that if the development of the region goes in an unwanted direction, which
means a disadvantage for the company, then Siemens (as well as other companies) would not
hesitate to make a negative location decision and to not invest in the region any more or to
even disinvest. Because of this a focused cluster policy can absolutely have advantages.
Concluding, it should therefore be solved, if the cluster policy propagated by the Land
government, the cities and the ICC is capable to contribute to the development of the new
technological competences and how the individual competences are doing right now.
Overall it can be said that the fields of medical technology and IT and
Communications technology are the best developed and the most promising clusters in the
region. Both clusters have important large companies (Siemens, Lucent etc) settled in the area
as well as many innovative smaller companies. This in turn causes other companies to settle
in the region and thus creates a pull effect. Medical technology depends, more than IT and
communications, on one single company. The danger here is that, if Siemens should ever
decide to leave this location or even to just downsize, the cluster will loose importance. On
this account the activities of the initiative are very important, since it is trying to interlink the
companies with each other and with the regional institutions and thus increase the connection
to the region. The purposeful promotion of start-ups (not only in this cluster) has as a
consequence that the cluster is, independently from Siemens, growing and developing further.
The IT and communications branch in the region is fairly diversified and as a result of the
networking activities the competences can be bundled better and can be aligned clearer.
Furthermore, it is important for this cluster to promote the competences of the region to the
outside, which is easier to do with an initiative like that.
53
It is not clear yet how the cluster new materials is going to develop. Here it is
especially important to purposeful expand the research environment, so that competences in
the field of research evolve. Such a purposeful expansion is easiest to accomplish with
measures and funding of the regional and Land politics, whereas the role of a network of
competence as a coordinating element, is important. If a good research environment, framed
with the already existing companies can be established here, than the development of a, over
the regions known, cluster is possible here as well.
The position of the other two clusters “energy and environment and “transportation
and logistics” is a bit more contradictious. Both clusters have lost important companies and
since they are both production based fields, many plants were already moved to more cost
effective locations. Especially because these two clusters have a slightly worse starting
position, financial aid and networks of competence are of great importance. The sector energy
and environment should concentrate on the few actually promising fields and in doing this,
governmental aid and the initiatives can be helpful. Here the strengths can be bundled and
thus the individual fields can be established. The same thing applies for the transportation and
logistics cluster. However, the network of competence brings one additional advantage. It has
already established relationships to other initiatives and other regions and therefore the
competences lacking in the Nuremberg region can be complemented.
Finally, it can be said that a regional cluster policy, which is based on sufficient
governmental funds can definitely help to develop new technological competences within a
region. The success of the cluster policy depends to a great deal on how promising the field is
estimated to be in the future, on the international competition and on the already existing
structure of the cluster. Cluster policy can therefore further strengthen and help to decrease
weaknesses.
54
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